News Beat
Girl, 16, took own life just days after she was raped
THE body of a teenage girl who took her own life was found in a river two weeks after she accused a man of raping her, an inquest has heard.
Leah Bedford, 16, was found eight days after she was reported missing from a hostel in York on September 30, 2023.
After Leah’s body was found in the River Ouse the case against Kristian John Franks, 35, from the York area, was dropped.
The charges were withdrawn due to Leah’s death as the issue of the case was based around consent.
But her evidence was later used to successfully convict Franks of a previous rape in 2017 – with prosecutors drawing on the similarities between the attacks six years apart.
Officers contacted the victim after Leah’s allegations and she agreed to re-engage with the investigation.
The prosecution used Leah’s testimony as bad character evidence for the 2017 case.
The 35-year-old rapist was finally jailed for eight years and nine months at York Crown Court in October this year, with an extended licence period of six years, for the 2017 attack.
Tragically Franks was convicted after Leah took her own life so she never saw justice.
Following an extensive search involving police divers, a body was recovered eight days after Leah went missing a mile downstream from her last sighting.
An inquest at Northallerton Coroner’s Court heard how Leah had a troubled life filled with tragic events.
Pathologist, Nigel Cooper, detected drugs and alcohol in her blood.
DCI Dave Ellis, from North Yorkshire Police’s safeguarding team, which was looking after Leah, said the teen was known to be using drugs.
Her cause of death was ruled as drowning and that her state of mind would have been impacted by the drugs in her system.
Leah went missing from a hostel for vulnerable young people she was staying at in York.
She had been known to safeguarding and mental health partners in York since 2022, including the City of York Council child exploitation team and North Yorkshire Police’s safeguarding unit.
Members of Leah’s family feel the mental health team let her down.
One said: “She was struggling with her mental health and you are the professionals. We do not want anyone else to go through this.”
Daniel Piper, from the community mental health service in York, said it was a team decision. “Our relationship could have broken down and she felt more abandoned.”
Family spokesman Jayne Reynolds said: “I am just wanting to know why the family was not involved. She was only 16. Why were we not told about the rape in the first place?”
The court informed them that Leah did not want her family to know about the assault.
The inquest continues.
