Lampard Inquiry: Sister of woman who took her own life vows to ‘get her voice heard’

Published

9 months ago

September 16, 2024

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In a photo her sister treasures, Paula Parretti smiles brightly. It was taken soon after she had decided to colour half of her hair bright pink.

“She was an amazing auntie, like the fun aunt,” Sam Cook recalls.

“She’d always be there for my children. Laughing, joking, buying them the noisiest toys, all that fun stuff and she wanted to see them grow.”

But Paula died in January 2022. It was Sam who discovered her in her flat.

“I want to see her beautiful face as a memory. But I don’t. I see that last image,” Sam says.

Weeks earlier Paula had been discharged from hospital, despite being visibly distressed.

“They dropped her bags at my feet and said, ‘You’ve got to take her home, we need the bed’,” Sam recalls.

“I said, ‘Can you not see she’s having a panic attack?’ And they said, ‘Sorry, but we need the bed. There’s lots of people that need help’. So, I had to take her home and all she kept saying was Nobody listens. I’m never going to get any help. Nobody’s listening to me. There’s no point’.”

Sam is set to become one of the first relatives to speak on behalf of loved ones at a public inquiry into thousands of deaths of mental health patients in Essex.

The Lampard Inquiry began last week with its chair Baroness Lampard saying the number of deaths that will be looked at will be significantly in excess of the 2,000 that were being considered by a previous investigation.

The patients all died between 2000 and 2023.

Sam says her sister never felt listened to. During a previous stay at the Linden Centre, a mental health unit in Essex, she says Paula suffered broken ribs and bruising at the hands of staff. She says the NHS Trust admitted fault following that incident and paid some compensation.

Paul Scott, chief executive officer of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, said in a statement to Sky News: “My thoughts are with Paula’s family at this difficult time and I am sorry for the distress caused during Paula’s care, and send my deepest condolences for their loss.”

Sam says she’s determined to keep fighting for change so other patients don’t suffer like her sister.

“I promised myself after she passed away that I’d get her voice heard… now I’m finally, finally giving her her voice,” she says.

Before her sister’s death, Sam had also lost a cousin and a friend who were both suffering with their mental health.

Since posting online about her loss, she’s been contacted by people concerned about mental health services around the country.

“It’s nationwide,” Sam says. “People are saying they’re having the same treatment. They’re begging for help.

“I think people think they won’t speak up. And if they do speak up, are they going to get believed? Or are people going to put it down to their mental health?

“I think it needs us families to really put it out there that these were people. Just because they have mental health problems, it doesn’t mean that they’re anything less than a person. They have family, they’re mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. They’re loved.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

UK

Air India plane crash: Only survivor thought he was ‘going to die’

Published

8 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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Air India plane crash: Only survivor thought he was 'going to die'

The only survivor of the Air India plane crash says he thought he was “going to die”.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, managed to walk away from the wreckage. He was “disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body… but he seems to be out of danger”, according to a doctor who examined him.

There had been 242 people on board flight AI171 when it came down. Among the passengers and crew on the Gatwick-bound aircraft were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian national.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a doctors’ hostel in a residential area on Thursday, moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India.

India plane crash: Follow live updates

Vidhi Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Ahmedabad, said Mr Ramesh was sat in seat 11A, located next to an emergency exit, and “managed to escape by jumping out the emergency door”.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said he “still can’t believe” he survived.

He said he thought he “was also going to die” but he then “opened [his] eyes”.

“I pulled out the belt from under my seat and tried to escape. Then I managed to do it,” he told DD India.

Mr Ramesh said “within the first mile” after take-off “it felt like the plane was stuck” and “like something had happened”.

“Then a light came on, like a green and white light came on inside the plane,” he added.

“The pilot was trying to give it a bit of a push to push it forward, but it was struggling. But it went straight into a building.”

He said the side where he landed was not the hostel side and as soon as the plane door broke, he “could see that it was open for [him] and [he had] a chance to get out”.

He said that his brother, Ajay, was seated in a different row on the plane. “He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he told the Hindustan Times.

‘Bodies all around me’

Mr Ramesh continued: “It all happened so quickly. When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me.

“Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

From his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh also met India’s prime minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking in Leicester, Mr Ramesh’s brother Nayan told Sky’s Shamaan Freeman-Powell that their father was on the phone to Mr Ramesh while the plane was still on the runway.

“My dad called him,” the 27-year-old said. “And Vishwash said ‘oh we’re going to take off soon’.”

Two minutes later, their father received a video call from Mr Ramesh to say the plane had crashed and he had survived.

“He video-called my dad as he crashed and said ‘Oh the plane’s crashed. I don’t know where my brother is. I don’t see any other passengers. I don’t know how I’m alive – how I exited the plane’,” Nayan said.

Air India has confirmed 229 passengers and 12 crew members died, but authorities have not confirmed how many people on the ground were killed or injured.

Who were the victims?

Among the British citizens killed in the crash were Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa, and their four-year-old daughter Sara.

Gloucester Muslim Community said in a statement on Facebook that “no words can truly ease the pain of such a profound loss”.

Also on the flight were married couple Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek from west London, who had posted a video from the airport on their Instagram feed shortly before boarding.

Gatwick Airport said in a statement that a reception centre was being set up where information and support will be provided for relatives of those on board.

Tata Sons, Air India’s owner, said it would give around £86,000 to the families of each person who died, cover the medical costs of those injured and support the rebuild of the medical hostel.

British nationals who require consular assistance are advised to call 020 7008 5000, while Air India has set up hotlines to provide information on +91 806 2779 200 for foreign nationals or 1800 5691 444 if calling from India.

UK

UK calls for restraint after Israel launches airstrikes on Iran

Published

8 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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UK calls for restraint after Israel launches airstrikes on Iran

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called for “restraint” and “diplomacy” after Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes on Iran early on Friday.

He called reports of Israel’s so-called Operation Rising Lion “concerning”, but stopped short of condemning it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had targeted the “heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme”, which he feared would eventually be aimed at Israel.

Iran promised “severe punishment” for the attacks, which killed several top commanders and nuclear scientists, and launched 100 drones towards Israel in an initial response.

Follow latest: Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites

In a statement on Friday, Mr Starmer urged “all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently”.

He added: “Escalation serves no one in the region. Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate.

“Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.”

The UK does not appear to have been warned in advance of Israel’s plan to attack Iran.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, had been due to travel to Washington on Friday to meet his American counterpart.

The trip was cancelled once it became known that Israel had launched its operation.

A Whitehall source said the late cancellation of Mr Lammy’s travel plans indicated the UK had not been alerted in advance to the timing of the attack.

However, the UK had been aware of the increasing likelihood of an Israeli mission to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, given the rhetoric from the Israeli government in recent weeks.

Mr Lammy called it a “dangerous moment” and said “stability in the Middle East is vital for global security”.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, British industry minister Sarah Jones also said the UK had not been involved in the Israeli military operation.

It is understood British warplanes are not currently involved in helping to defend Israel’s skies from any Iranian counterattacks.

This could change as the situation develops.

Additional forces could well be sent to a key Royal Air Force base in Cyprus, where Typhoon jets are stationed.

The deployment of reinforcements to RAF Akrotiri has happened in the past during times of crisis in the Middle East.

The US also said it had not been involved in Israel’s attack on Iran, and warned against any retaliation targeting American interests or personnel.

US President Donald Trump had previously urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Iran while Washington negotiates a nuclear deal with the country.

In his first public comment about the attacks, he again urged Iran to reach a deal with Washington on its nuclear programme, warning on his Truth Social platform that Israel’s attacks “will only get worse”.

Without saying whether he was privy to specific Israeli plans, the US president said “there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end”.

But China, Saudi Arabia and Russia condemned Israel’s strikes, while Japan called the use of military force “deeply regrettable”.

Russia’s foreign ministry called the attack “unprovoked” and “categorically unacceptable” and said it was in breach of the United Nations charter.

Spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry Lin Jian said: “China opposes the violation of Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, opposes the intensification of contradictions, the expansion of conflicts, and the sudden
rise in temperature of the regional situation.”

Takeshi Iwaya, Japan’s foreign minister, said: “Amid ongoing diplomatic efforts, including talks between the United States and Iran, to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue, the use of military force is deeply regrettable.”

UK

Seven men used two teenage girls as ‘sex slaves’ in Rochdale

Published

8 hours ago

June 13, 2025

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Seven men used two teenage girls as 'sex slaves' in Rochdale

Seven men have been found guilty of using two teenage girls as “sex slaves” in Rochdale.

Their trial at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard evidence in relation to 53 sexual offences, believed to have been committed between 2001 and 2006, over 72 days.

One of the victims, who is now in her 30s, told the jury that she was labelled a “prostitute” by social services in Rochdale when allegations against the men first came to light.

Their trial was told that she and the other victim were groomed from the age of 13 and forced to have sex with the men “whenever and wherever” they wanted – including on rancid mattresses, in car parks and alleyways.

Both victims were given drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes by the men involved, the court heard. They were also introduced to taxi drivers for sexual exploitation.

Jurors deliberated for around three weeks – and delivered their unanimous guilty verdicts on Friday.

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