Case proceeds to the Court of Appeal

After a complex hearing at the High Court yesterday, Mr. Justice Blake decided not to grant my family permission for a Judicial Review to be heard about the ineffectiveness of the inquest into my mother's death.

Giving judgement, Mr. Justice Blake said that he felt there was not the need for a fresh inquiry despite recognising there had been numerous questions over the evidence relied upon by Dr. Andrew Reid, the coroner in the case. In an unfortunate judgement, Mr. Justice Blake did not accept that the state had a duty to protect my mother to the same extent as that owed to prisoners. He also stated that human rights requirements for a broad investigation in cases such as my mother's did not apply, but recognised that the law in this area was not settled. This will be a key aspect of the appeal.

Our legal team is now working rapidly over the next couple of days to assess the merits of an application to the Court of Appeal. We think it is shocking that the deaths of people as vulnerable as my mother - and in such appalling circumstances - do not attract the same safeguards as granted to prisoners and intend to continue arguing the point.

We are not convinced that the failures which occurred in my mother's care will be prevented in the future and believe that other vulnerable mental health patients are still at risk. The inability of the London Ambulance Service to gain access to a locked ward, the lack of training of nurses in operating key life-saving equipment and the failure to place my mother on a ward more capable of caring for her complex needs are systemic failings which, we believe, must be publicly scrutinised in detail. Anything less than this suggests what some of us already suspect - people who suffer from mental health difficulties are still the subject of widespread discrimination. Has anything really changed since the Victorian asylums closed?

The mental health trust, to date, have relied on a cynical argument about time limits to have the case thrown out. This argument was not successful yesterday. We call on the trust to drop any further opposition and focus on the needs of society's most vulnerable individuals. We will not rest until they do.