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The grieving family of a young woman who took her own life have spoken of their shock upon learning of her tragic death.
Talented Maizie Ferrett was found dead at her home in St John’s Road, Whitstable, when a housemate forced open her bedroom door after growing concerned for her last July.
The 21-year-old had a history of mental health problems.
A friend living with her also removed blades from the property in a bid to prevent the former Canterbury student from hurting herself.
However, foster mum Sylvia Foreman believed Maizie had been turning a corner at the time, following conversations in which she expressed a desire to get help.
Speaking to KentOnline, she said: “She estranged herself from the family, and we’d get the odd call from her.
“But all of a sudden, Maizie wanted to reconnect and made every effort to engage with people and made plans for what she wanted to do.
“To hear what had happened was a real shock. We were devastated because we knew she was trying so hard and seemed to be in a good place.
“To me, she was someone who just wanted to be loved.
“Maizie had an awful lot of potential in her. She just loved life and was very kind and caring.”
Sister Hollie Ferrett says Maizie had suffered a miscarriage in 2019, which had “devastated her” – but also believed she had been improving last June.
Maizie grew up in Herne Bay from the age of nine, after she and her siblings moved in with Sylvia.
A keen dancer and passionate artist, she was educated at Clarendon House Grammar School in Ramsgate.
She then studied forensic science at Canterbury Christ Church University for a year, before dropping out of the course.
Hollie added: “Maizie had plans to get better and plans for the future. She really wanted to be a mum.
“She was kind, generous and very loyal. She was a ray of sunshine.”
An inquest in Maidstone today heard how police were first called to Maizie’s home after she told GP surgery staff in Canterbury she was thinking of ending her life.
Officers arrived at the property at about 12.30pm that day, July 1, where they found her smoking a cigarette on her balcony, saying she had problems with her landlord and some of her housemates.
PC Bethany Hughes told the hearing: “She said her mood was not good and that she had been having trouble with some of her housemates.
“She was packing her bags in preparation for leaving her home.”
Maizie, who was diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder, had twice been admitted to hospital in June after overdosing on medication.
The officers decided to drive her to Laurel House in Canterbury so that she could talk to its mental health team, which had been in contact with her previously.
Following an appointment with a nurse, it was decided that Maizie would be referred to the Crisis team.
When she left, the young woman made what the nurse regarded at the time to be a “flippant” comment about overdosing.
When asked by assistant coroner Catherine Wood how she decided it was safe for Maizie to return home, the nurse said: “She had agreed to my plan for her.
“She was engaging with services, like the police [before she arrived]. We can’t say for definite [what will happen], that’s the difficulty.”
But the nurse phoned the police at about 3.35pm the same day, after receiving a call from the Crisis team saying Maizie had been "very agitated and distressed".
“I rang Maizie back. She was more agitated and threatened to kill herself,” she added.
But because the officer assigned to check on the young woman had been called to another incident that was deemed more urgent, police did not visit her home until 8pm.
They soon left after a housemate mistakenly told them he thought Maizie had gone out for a walk.
It was not until he called her phone and heard it ringing from behind her locked bedroom door that he discovered her body less than an hour later.
Pathologists concluded that the cause of death was hanging.
Recording her death as a suicide, assistant coroner Catherine Wood said the nurse should have also offered Maizie the option of being referred to a doctor or an approved mental health professional.
“[The nurse] said that when she saw Maizie, she was flat, tearful, upset and irritable,” Ms Wood added.
“She said she had suicidal thoughts. The decision between her and the clinician was for Maizie to see Crisis because they could see her regularly.
“However, the full range of options were not discussed and I consider that they should have been for fully informed consent.
“But she could not have physicially stopped Maizie from leaving Laurel House. There was nothing she could have done apart from call the police, and that may or may not have made a difference.
“It was clear Maizie was wanting help, but she didn’t know how to articulate it that day.”
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