Tragic teen girl, 19, who scaled six-storey buildings and believed she had’superpowers to rescue ‘good people’ found hanged
A TEENAGER who thought she had super powers killed herself two weeks after scaling a 140ft building on a "rescue mission to help good people", an inquest heard.
Victoria Halliday, who had a history of mental health problems, was ordered by voices in her head to complete the mission or commit suicide, a coroner was told.
The 19-year-old, who had already been warned by police after climbing the outside of a building in Leicester, scaled the six-storey Xscape building in Milton Keynes, Bucks.
She told cops who brought her down about her mission to help "good people".
Just two weeks later on July 30 last year she was found hanging in woodland in Leicestershire.
An inquest held at Leicester Town Hall heard Victoria went missing three times - to Milton Keynes and Cardiff - between April and July 15 prompting police searches.
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Giving evidence at the inquest yesterday nurse Denise Harris said on the last occasion Victoria climbed to the top of the Xscape building.
Victoria, from Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, was seen four times by staff in a mental health unit at a Milton Keynes hospital after police were concerned for her safety.
Ms Harris: "She said she was rescuing the good people from the bad people
"She was listening to the 'leader' who told her to climb."
Ms Harris said Victoria, who believed she had super powers and could climb any building without equipment, had an imaginary friend called Grace who advised her about her mission.
The inquest heard counsellor Janet Bagley, who was employed by the family to help Victoria, had eight sessions with her with the last one on July 28.
Ms Bagley said the teen had told her she had super powers and there was a gang of them who could fly, breathe underwater, or be invisible.
The counsellor also told the coroner Victoria was unpredictable and sometimes she was calm and lucid but other times she was anxious.
The inquest heard Victoria had a history of behavioural problems.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Beena Kumari, from the Bradgate Mental Health Unit at Glenfield, Leicester, said she suffered from "environmentally unstable personality disorder."
Dr Kumari told the hearing Victoria was not displaying psychosis despite hearing voices and suffering delusions.
The specialist said repeated assessments showed the best treatment for Victoria would be in the community and that prolonged time in hospital would be counter-productive.
She added: "There was a high risk of suicide. But it was a difficult balance."
But Victoria's condition deteriorated in the Bradgate Unit while the doctor was on holiday and she was detained under the Mental Health Act.
After six weeks she improved and was discharged but she then went missing from home and was back in the unit two days later.
The inquest heard Victoria was detained under the Mental Health Act after she was rescued from the Xscape building.
She was taken back to the Bradgate Unit and assessed and it was felt she was lucid and calm and should be released but two weeks later she was dead.
The inquest continues.