Coroner voices concerns following suicide of 14-year-old Ollie Lee

A coroner has called for improved communication between mental health services following the suicide of a 14-year-old Barnsley teenager.

South Yorkshire West coroner, Hannah Berry, has issued a prevention of future deaths report with recommendations to Barnsley Council, Barnsley Academy, and South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust.

The report follows an inquest into the teenager’s death which concluded on May 8, 2026.

14-year-old Ollie Lee died on October 6, 2024, after taking her own life.

She was taken to Barnsley District General Hospital where she died.

The coroner reported: “Ollie had complex needs with suspected neurodiversity, identity confusion and there were concerns she was being bullied at school.”

She said: “There was poor communication and engagement between the agencies involved with supporting Ollie. This led to missed opportunities for Ollie to continue to receive the support of mental health services.”

Ollie had a history of self-harming and had made previous attempts to take her own life.

Following these incidents, she was supported by the mental health services crisis team until being discharged in March, 2024 as she was deemed “no longer in crisis”.

In October, 2023, she had been placed onto a waiting list for psycho social intervention from mental health services and was eligible to start in June 2024.

The report said: “Due to poor communication between agencies Ollie was discharged from the service due to no contact and therefore no psycho social intervention occurred. This was a missed opportunity for Ollie to remain under the care of mental health services.

“There were additional missed opportunities due to lack of communication when additional self harm attempts were not reported to mental health services.

“It cannot be said whether the missed opportunity to receive additional support from mental health services caused or contributed to her death.”

The coroner said: “In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken,” outlining her areas of concern.

-Poor communication and engagement between the agencies involved with Ollie including her school, CAMHS and targeted early help.

-A lack of communication and engagement between targeted early help and CAMHS despite both agencies being aware that the other was involved. This led to a confusing picture and a missed opportunity for Ollie to remain open to CAMHS and receive psycho social intervention and continued support from CAMHS.

– There was no record of important discussions that occurred between early help and the school and Ollie’s preference in relation to pronouns was not acted upon.

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