The coroner said she concluded from the evidence that Semina was “highly vulnerable” but she did not agree with submissions from the family that Merseyside Police, Semina’s school, health trusts and Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council had breached their operational duties to her, meaning the inquest could engage Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The inquest, which was held at Bootle Town Hall for six days last month, heard in March 2021 Semina told her mother Rachel Halliwell she had been sexually assaulted by an older boy in January that year.
She said: “The evidence has not revealed to me any indication that a real and immediate risk to Semina’s life was known to any of the state agencies at any relevant point in time which would have made her death preventable.”.
Semina Halliwell died in hospital on June 12 2021 after taking prescription medication at the family home in Southport, Merseyside, on June 9.
Ms Halliwell said: “I think to say to a 12-year-old child ‘it is going to take 18 months to two years to go to court, do you really want it hanging over your head’ and ‘it’s your word against his’ is not what any woman or child who has been through sexual assault or rape needs to hear and she was 12 with autism.”.
