A 12-year-old girl who tragically took a fatal overdose after alleging that she had been raped by a boy at her school was not failed by police or other agencies, a coroner concluded today.
Semina Halliwell had confided in her mother that she had twice been sexually abused by the older boy in January 2021, but initially decided not to give a formal police interview.
However, after learning that the same boy had allegedly sexually assaulted another youngster, the autistic schoolgirl changed her mind.
But while police were at the family home in Southport, Merseyside in June 2021 after an ‘altercation’ at school between the alleged rapist and her brother, Semina said ‘I’ve had enough of this’ and went upstairs.
Tragically she took an overdose of prescription medication. She was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where she asked a doctor ‘if she was going to die’, a long-awaited inquest last month heard.
She said she regretted taking the tablets and had only taken them to ‘make her sleep for a couple of days’.
Heartbreakingly, however, doctors were unable to save her and life support had to be withdrawn three days later, on June 12.
Today’s conclusion came after a three-and-a-half year battle for answers by Semina’s campaigning mother, Rachel.
Semina Halliwell (pictured) had confided in her mother that she had twice been sexually abused by the older boy in January 2021, but initially decided not to give a formal police interview
Today’s conclusion came after a three-and-a-half year battle for answers by Semina’s campaigning mother, Rachel (pictured in January)
She has endured a vile campaign of threats and online bullying which continue to this day as she has sought to hold accountable all the agencies she believes failed to give Semina the support she needed.
Lawyers representing Ms Halliwell had argued that assistant coroner Johanna Thompson should make a ruling that the schoolgirl was ‘failed’ by the state as the risk to her life should have been ‘foreseen’.
However Ms Thompson today rejected claims that police, social services, the local mental health trust or her school breached Semina’s human rights.
She recorded a narrative conclusion, saying Semina had a ‘complex social history’.
‘Her death arose as a consequence of taking an overdose of her mother’s prescription medication whilst in a state of distress and her intent at that time is unknown,’ the coroner added.
Her mother’s outspoken campaign to secure justice for Semina and protect other young girls has amassed almost 24,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter – among them high-profile figures including whistleblowing ex-detective Maggie Oliver.
At the six-day inquest at Bootle Town Hall last month, Ms Halliwell told how there was a ‘complete change in Semina’s personality’ as she was preparing to start Year 7 at Stanley High School in Southport.
‘She went from being a bright and bubbly girl to being depressed and withdrawn,’ she said. ‘She was completely distant and closed-off.’
Semina Halliwell, 12, died after taking an overdose of prescription medication after making an allegation of sexual assault
Semina – who used Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok – started to receive troubling messages over social media and later began self-harming.
In March 2021, she attempted to take an overdose of prescription medication – with Ms Halliwell informing her school she believed it to have been a suicide attempt.
However it was only later that disclosed to her distraught mother the reason for her anguish. An older boy had twice sexually assaulted her in woodland after grooming and pestering her online, Semina confided.
‘It destroyed her – mentally, physically,’ her mother told the hearing. ‘She thought bad things about herself.’
But Semina had doubts about making a formal rape allegation, the inquest heard. In a WhatsApp exchange with her mother she wrote: ‘I don’t want to let him get away with it, but at the same time I just want to forget about it.’
A video interview was booked, with officers making a preliminary visit on March 28 to talk her through what it would entail.
According to Ms Halliwell, they gave Semina the impression that investigating her allegations would be ‘an inconvenience’ for them.
A male detective told Semina the case amounted to ‘her word against his’, she said, making her feel ‘like she wasn’t believed’.
Semina Halliwell (pictured) was just 12 years old when she died in June 2021
The detective also said ‘he would have to fill in all these forms’, she said in her evidence. Semina signed a statement saying she did not wish to proceed with a prosecution.
The following month, her school was informed about Semina having had sex with a 13-year-old boy at the family home.
She later told a shocked social worker it had been consensual and that her mother had taken her to get the morning-after pill.
Questioned by the coroner about whether she permitted Semina to have boys stay over, her mother insisted there was ‘nothing sexual’ between her daughter and her male friends.
In the weeks that followed, Semina was repeatedly beaten up, according to her family.
Clips showing her being attacked and screenshots of threatening messages she’d received were passed to police.
However detectives told the inquest that while they considered charging her alleged attackers with witness intimidation, the ‘two second clip filmed from behind’ was insufficient evidence.
After learning that the same boy had allegedly sexually assaulted another girl, Semina bravely changed her mind, with an interview booked for June 10.
Rachel Halliwell (pictured here with her daughter) said Semina was treated ‘unprofessionally’ by Merseyside Police
Det Con Chris Loughead pictured at the inquest today at Bootle Town Hall near Liverpool
However on June 7 Ms Halliwell was contacted by staff at Stanley High School to be told that her younger son had been assaulted.
While waiting near school reception, the boy who had allegedly raped Semina came past and was verbally abusive, her aunt Claire Halliwell told the hearing.
The boy’s brother later kicked the Halliwells’ front door, the inquest heard, while their father also came to the house, prompting them to call police.
But after officers arrived to discuss the allegations late in the evening of June 8, Semina tragically took the fatal overdose.
In one heartbreaking social media post shortly before her death, Semina wrote ‘I have no feelings’ and ‘I just want to be happy again’.
Later she posted: ‘There’s nothing worse than not wanting to be alive anymore but not wanting to end it either because you don’t want to hurt the few people around that you love.
‘So you just wake up and exist everyday knowing how much it hurts.’
In another in the early hours of June 9, she wrote: ‘When does everything get better and when do you start to get over him?’
Had she received more support, ‘she’d still be here today’, Ms Halliwell told the hearing. The inquest heard the first account of the police officers who spoke to Semina about her rape allegation. They denied persuading her to drop her complaint.
Semina’s mother Rachel Halliwell attended the inquest at Bootle Town Hall near Liverpool with her sister Clare Halliwell
Det Con Chris Loughead admitted telling Semina the case could take two years to get to court.
He also advised the worried schoolgirl that the case might come down to her account and that of her alleged attacker ‘against each other’.
However he denied telling her about the amount of paperwork it would involve with the intention of persuading her to drop the complaint, saying he took her claim ‘very seriously’.
He also revealed that even though Semina decided she didn’t want to go ahead, he interviewed the boy she had accused of attacking her and examined his mobile phone for evidence.
However the teenager made ‘no admissions’, with the case left open.
PC Paula Carney, who met Semina on March 24 to get an initial account, said the Year 7 schoolgirl was ’embarrassed and reluctant’ about pursuing a formal complaint.
But her mother was ‘encouraging Semina to go ahead’.
She recorded that Semina didn’t want to proceed, but on March 27 was informed that she had changed her mind, so she and investigating officer Det Con Loughead went to see Semina at home.
Denying that he wanted Semina to know it would be a ‘burdensome’ case, Det Con Loughead said it was a ‘difficult’ encounter due to ‘pressure’ Mrs Halliwell and her sister were putting on her to go ahead.
He needed to be ‘honest’ with Semina about the ‘potential pitfalls’ of going to court, he said.
Semina was involved with social services and had appointments with the child and adolescent mental health services, the inquest heard.
Semina’s mother encouraged her daughter to pursue a complaint over the rape allegation
Brenda Jones, of the ‘early help’ team at Sefton council, spoke to Semina about her confession to having sex with a 13-year-old boy in her bedroom – which the school was informed about in April 2021.
She told the schoolgirl that ’12-year-old children do not have sex’.
Semina informed her that her mother had taken her to get the morning-after pill and be examined to rule out a possible STD. ‘I was quite taken aback by this,’ Ms Jones said.
Donna Buck, an educational nurse, said she directed Semina to information about how to cut down on self-harming as well as staying safe on social media.
But that there were no concerns about her overall wellbeing.
Nadine Walker took over as Semina’s CAMHS practitioner in 2021 but never met her face-to face amid Covid restrictions – the inquest heard social workers were ‘frustrated’ at having to chase her repeatedly.
Dr Vicky Killen, a clinical psychologist at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital which runs CAMHS services in the area, accepted that face-to-face meetings were preferable.
Teachers at Semina’s school were also aware she was struggling, but believed she was getting the help she needed from children’s services and CAMHS, the inquest heard.
No specific measures were taken to stop Semina seeing her alleged attacker between lessons, deputy headteacher Elaine Fraser-Orr said.
But pupils were in ‘bubbles’ to prevent the spread of Covid which meant their paths should not cross.
Ms Fraser-Orr insisted Stanley High had done its best to support Semina – but admitted that staff were ‘always going to wish we could have done more’.
For his part, Neil Moore, who was headteacher at the time, agreed that after being alerted that photographs of a naked Semina were circulating on social media, the school should have checked police were involved – rather than leaving it to her mother to report it.
Semina Halliwell’s mother Rachel Halliwell (right) and her aunt Clare Halliwell, speaking to the media outside Bootle Town Hall on June 12
Semina was under the care of social workers at Sefton council, each of whom had responsibility for at least 20 children.
Asked if that was sufficient, team manager Jennifer Johnson there were ‘never enough’ staff but they had to do the best they could.
She defended assigning trainee social worker Lucy Barnes, saying she’d built up a good relationship with Semina.
Social workers did not ‘escalate’ the case after the alleged rape as they believed CAMHS and Stanley High were supporting Semina.
Questioned by Ms Halliwell’s barrister, she defended not implementing a child protection plan, saying Semina had good support from her mother and that help had to be given in the least ‘intrusive’ fashion.
She argued that taking a more interventionist approach could be seen by parents as a ‘hostile’ step and make matters worse.
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