A teenager who plunged from a bridge 15 years after her suicidal mum jumped from a 100ft balcony while holding her was talked down from the same spot a week before her death.
Yazmina Howard, 18, was found by her boyfriend on the M20 passover just days before she died on Monday night.
Her grandfather, Michael Howard, 70, said the system "really let her down" as he revealed she was checked into an NHS mental health unit known as Priority House, based at Maidstone Hospital, but the family were given little help.
Yazmina Howard was just three when her mother, Maxine Carr, leaped from the balcony of their home in Maidstone, Kent, with her in her arms.
While Maxine, 33, tragically died following the seven-storey plunge, her daughter survived with broken bones to her arms, ribs, jaw and skull.
But a decade and a half after surviving the tragedy, Yazmina lost her life this week, aged just 18, when she plunged from the bridge over the M20.
The "beautiful" and "emotional" college student was pronounced dead at the scene after falling from the bridge in Larkfield, Kent, on Monday.
A loved one said she and her mum are now "angels together".
Speaking at the family home in East Farleigh, Kent, Mr Howard said: "Before this happened Yazmina had a similar event just over a week before on the same bridge."
He said he believes Yazmina was talked down by her boyfriend, adding: "Apparently he managed to get there and pulled her back.
"Police were called and she ended up in the Priory at Maidstone.
"We didn’t know anything about it until we got the phone call saying it happened, ‘can you come and collect her?’
"They said, ‘we have put Yazmina under a crisis team’.
"We expected someone to give us a call and say, ‘come here and we can give you some guidance in some way’.
"What I can’t understand is, they take them into this Priory, how do they evaluate someone to say that they can go?
"It seems the system has really let her down."
Yazmina went out for pizza with a friend on the night she died, before sending "happy" pictures to her grandparents, who took on her care when her mum died.
Her grandmother, Janet Howard, 68, said: "I text her at about 9.23pm and said is Matt still there. She said ‘yes.’ I said ‘that’s nice you have got Matt with you?’
"She was perfectly happy and then we got some photos which they had taken and she was happy."
Yazmina split time between her grandparent’s home and an apartment close to Mid Kent College, where she studied.
Mr Howard said they learned she had died in the early hours of Tuesday.
He said: "The police came here at about two in the morning but apparently all this happened at about 10ish."
Talking about the death of her mum in August 2003, he added: "Yazmina survived that incident.
"She had horrific injuries from that fall but we got through all of them.
"I don’t think she was left with any kind of problems.
"She had broken arms, jaw, ribs, we went to various hospitals.
"How she was in her thoughts we didn’t know. No one knows. She must have been depressed to some degree. There was a bit of boyfriend trouble.
"She was a happy girl, very quiet, never any problems, she was not one of those that went out clubbing which some teenagers do. She was very quiet and very strong."
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He told how Yazmina had considered re-enrolling at college, which had caused her some stress.
Mr Howard said: "They said she could come back to the college but she had got to start from day one, which she was not too happy with."
Family members gathered at their home yesterday (Weds) following news of Yazmina’s death.
Mr Howard added: "It’s devastated all of them. She was very private, she didn’t get involved a great deal with the rest of the family – they all loved Yazmina for what she was.
"She’s extremely special to us, surviving all that time.
"We adopted her as our own. That had to go through the adoption process, it’s more or less a year’s process, as though you’re adopting a stranger, even though she was our granddaughter."
- Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at [email protected]
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