Averil Hart: 'Fun-loving' teen wrote of weight loss in diary

Averil Hart's father called his daughter "incredibly intelligent"

A "fun-loving" teenager with anorexia wrote in her diary about how she lost weight after being discharged from hospital, an inquest heard.

Averil Hart had an admission to the eating disorder unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge before going to university in September 2012.

She was admitted to hospital in Norwich in December 2012 after being found collapsed in her university room.

Miss Hart, 19, died at Addenbrooke's Hospital on 15 December 2012.

At the opening of an inquest in Peterborough into her death, her mother Miranda Campbell said, in a statement read by the coroner, that Miss Hart was a "beautiful, intelligent, incredibly witty fun-loving girl".

"She loved all sports and outdoor activities," she said.

The inquest heard Miss Hart, from Newton in Suffolk, was diagnosed with anorexia in 2008 and was voluntarily admitted to the eating disorder unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital in 2011.

Averil Hart went to the University of East Anglia to study creative writing

Miss Hart was discharged on 2 August 2012 and moved to Norwich the following month to start a creative writing degree course at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The inquest heard she wrote in her diary about falsifying her weight at weigh-ins and restricting what she was eating.

On November 13, she wrote: "I can't believe I'm still going, what I'm even running on any more.

"I just look thin and in pain.

"It makes me so sad."

Her father Nic Hart said his daughter was "incredibly intelligent" adding, "often the victims of this illness are highly intelligent".

He said she secured a place at Durham University in 2011 but went to UEA after treatment for her eating disorder as "she wanted to be near her mother, her two lovely sisters and [her boyfriend] Alex".

He said that while she was an inpatient for 10 months she was weighed each morning under the same conditions, had a meal plan and received treatment.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough assistant coroner Sean Horstead asked Mr Hart what he expected her monitoring and treatment regime to be after her discharge.

"My expectation was it would be different but equally robust," he said.

The inquest, which is expected to last for four weeks, continues.

If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, you can talk in confidence to eating disorders charity Beat by calling its adult helpline on 0808 801 0677 or youth helpline on 0808 801 0711.

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