A coroner ruled that Hollie Ayres, who was 18 when she passed away in early February last year, died of natural causes linked to sudden adult death syndrome (SADS), although he underlined that this is not a full explanation for her death.
“This is one of those rare cases where a medical cause of death is not available,” said Assistant Coroner Simon Burge at Winchester Coroner’s Court. “We can’t really understand what causes SADS, [but] that’s what it was – that’s the medical terminology.”
He added: “SADS is no more than a label. It is just a convenient way of describing something we don’t understand.”
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The court also heard how the Hampshire Child and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS) refused to see Hollie about her night terrors, anxiety and seizures because “her mum had died so she didn’t need to be seen”, according to her family.
This was in spite of their concerns about Hollie’s mental health and the impact it was having on her physical well-being.
In a joint statement read out at the inquest on Thursday January 16, Hollie’s brothers, sisters and father described her as “a young, bright 18-year-old who should have had her life ahead of her” and “a rainbow and bright star in our lives”.
“Holly was simply an amazing person with a heart of pure gold. She was quiet, reserved and thoughtful,” said the statement.
Her family also told of Hollie’s night terrors, which worsened after the death of her mother, Karen, in May 2023. It was then that she began to have seizures during which her eyes would roll to the back of her head. Sometimes she would foam at the mouth.
Hollie’s father, Mark Ayres, said: “She’d go off to bed and during the night she’d scream out and shout. It was quite regular to find her on the floor; every night I got up and sorted it and got her back in bed.”
Mr Ayres also told how she had been complaining of chest pains on the left side of her body, but her GP said it was just anxiety.
He recounted the last night he saw Hollie at their home on Folly Field. Over a cup of tea, she had told him she was going out to dinner the following evening, and Mr Ayres had joked: “Well don’t think you’re going without me.”
She then went to bed, but the next morning did not turn off her alarm clock. Mr Ayres walked into Hollie’s bedroom to find her lying on the floor, and realised something was wrong when he saw her face.
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Dr Hayley Burnley, who examined the evidence surrounding Hollie’s death, said the 18-year-old had no abnormalities whatsoever.
She said: “By its very nature SADS is a diagnosis of exclusion.”
“There was some sort of cardiac arrhythmia which led to her death,” added Dr Burnley. “The heart ‘flutters’, meaning it cannot pump blood around the body and the person dies. She would have been unconscious and died very quickly.”
Soon before she died, Hollie had been doing work experience at the Lilypad Pre-School in Bishop’s Waltham where her mother had been employed as a special educational needs co-ordinator.