The father of an autistic schoolgirl who is believed to have taken her own life the day before she was due to have her first ever detention has paid tribute to his “daddy’s girl” at the inquest into her death.
Caitlyn Scott-Lee, 16, was found dead at Wycombe Abbey, a private school in Buckinghamshire where she boarded, on 21 April last year.
The inquest at Buckinghamshire coroner’s court heard she received the detention after alcohol was found in her locker. Painting a portrait of his talented daughter in an emotional statement, her father, Jonathan Scott-Lee, described how she was a “daddy’s girl”.
“I took care of her, dressed her, cuddled her, fed her and soothed her,” he said. “As she grew as a toddler, there would be bitter-sweet moments where she would stand by the window of our home and cry as I left for my daily commute. Little did she know I would return each evening.
“It is a myth that people with autism don’t have much emotion.”
He said their feelings were “amplified” as they were “internal”, adding: “Caitlyn was so much more than autism, Wycombe Abbey and detention.”
Scott-Lee, who is a banker, said he had looked through a photo album after her death. “I saw photos of Caitlyn obtaining her scuba diving licence at age 10 in the Philippines, playing tennis in Scotland, modelling in Singapore, camping in Wales, riding helicopters in New Zealand, skiing across Japan, honing rifle marksmanship in Birmingham, driving at age 13 at Mercedes Brooklands, and hiking the Great Wall of China.”
He told the inquest: “It would be foolish to speculate whether she would have done things differently, had she known the impact of her death. Most people don’t want to end their lives; they just want the pain to stop.
“Whatever she may have felt in the moments leading up to her death, I respect her agency whilst disliking her decision.”
The inquest heard how Caitlyn had gone missing during a concert at Eton college weeks before she is believed to have killed herself.
Asked if staff made a connection between the incident and alcohol being found in Caitlyn’s possession, the Wycombe Abbey headteacher, Jo Duncan, said: “From my perspective, we saw them as different incidents.”
She said staff believed Caitlyn had run away from the concert as she did not want her mother to see her perform.
Caitlyn had previously had issues with her parents watching her play music, and had emailed her mother asking her not to come to the concert, Duncan said.
The inquest also heard that staff began to search for Caitlyn after she failed to return in time for curfew at her boarding school accommodation on 21 April last year.
In a statement read by the coroner, a friend who shared Caitlyn’s dorm said the schoolgirl had said in messages how anxious she was about a detention, and that she would rather have been suspended than have a detention.
There was also a reference in the messages to killing herself because of the detention.
Scott-Lee previously told the Sunday Times his daughter was “hyper-fixated” on the punishment.
He also shared with the newspaper her final diary entry of Thursday 20 April 2023, which reportedly read: “I hope this is my last diary entry. I want to kill myself tomorrow.”
He told the newspaper: “She was mortified to receive a detention. To some of us, it is a badge of honour, sitting in a room for two hours to work.
“But Caitlyn seemed hyper-fixated on the concept of a detention, and it seems she was determined to do anything she could to avoid it.”
The inquest continues.