The father of a 16-year-old girl who took her own life after getting a detention at a prestigious Buckinghamshire school hopes her legacy will be saving the lives of others who ‘think differently’.

Caitlyn Scott-Lee was a Year 11 pupil at Wycombe Abbey in High Wycombe when she was found dead on the school premises on Friday, April 21, the day before she was due to have her first-ever detention.

One year after her death, Caitlyn’s father Jonathan Scott-Lee has penned an article for The Sunday Times, reflecting on the lessons that might be learned from his tragic personal loss.

Mr Scott-Lee described his daughter as an “independent, precocious and passionate” person, whose autism sometimes made social interactions and gauging proportions difficult for her.

He said that although he had glimpsed mentions of self-harm in the teenager’s diary, it never occurred to him that she would commit suicide – especially over “the absurd inconsequentiality of a school detention”.

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Mr Scott-Lee, who is autistic himself, said more attention should be given to the coexistence of the spectrum condition with mental health struggles such as anxiety and depression.

He said he wants to honour his daughter’s legacy by continuing to campaign for suicide prevention among autistic people – becoming a champion of those who “think differently”.

Writing: “Every prevented suicide represents mothers, fathers, siblings and friends who will never understand the journey of grief that I now take.

“For a father, it is difficult to articulate the anguish of burying one’s daughter.”

A three-day inquest into Caitlyn’s death will begin on Monday, April 29.

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