Britain’s Got Talent star, 38, accused of kid intercourse offence advised physician she now not thought she was ‘positively going to jail’ simply days earlier than she was discovered useless at dwelling

A Britain’s Got Talent dancer who died in a suspected suicide told a doctor she no longer thought she was ‘definitely going to prison’ after being accused of a child sex offence, an inquest has heard. 

Kerri-Anne Donaldson, who reached the semi-final of the ITV show in 2014 as part of the dance group Kings and Queens, was found hanged at her home in Farnborough, Hampshire, on June 7, 2023.

Three days earlier the 38-year-old had been questioned at Basingstoke Police Station about an alleged ‘sexual’ offence, which she denied.

Ms Donaldson went missing after her arrest and was found at a Travelodge hotel in Woking, Surrey, having taken an overdose.

She was taken to St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey on June 5 but the day after being discharged, she was found hanged at her home.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Martin Williams was one of three mental health professionals who carried out an assessment of Ms Donaldson prior to her release. 

He told the inquest at Winchester Coroners’ Court he thought her risk of suicide had reduced and that she no longer believed she was ‘definitely going to go to prison’.

The court previously heard that Ms Donaldson was worried she would be sent to jail for the alleged sexual offence and that she ‘didn’t want to live that life’.

Dr Williams said: ‘We considered the possibility she was masking a higher level of risk than she was saying, but all the indications were that she was settling and the risk was markedly reduced from the previous day.’

He said Ms Donaldson was ‘open to speaking to professionals in whatever form that may take’, and she was referred to the home treatment team prior to her being allowed to be discharged from hospital.

Dr Williams added that Ms Donaldson had refused to disclose the nature of the offence she was accused of, but she had told him that she no longer believed she was ‘definitely going to go to prison’.

‘We had to make inferences from the fact she had been bailed,’ he said.

Ms Donaldson had no bail conditions, which led Dr Williams to presume that she had not been arrested for a serious sexual or violent offence.

He said: ‘She had shifted from a position of quite stressed and downbeat about the police involvement to where she felt much more confident.’

Dr Williams said Ms Donaldson had said that she ‘wanted to take her own legal advice and wanted to fight the case’.

He added: ‘She believed she had a good case in putting together a defence to whatever the arrest was for, she believed she had a good case.

‘She expressed a view on the day of the assessment, she was no longer so worried about going to prison.’

Dr Williams, however, told the inquest that he had made some incorrect assumptions about the dancer’s situation.

When asked by Coroner Jason Pegg if he’d had the ‘full picture’ and whether there was a possibility that Ms Donaldson would have been detained for further assessment, he answered: ‘That’s a possibility, yes.’

Dr Williams, who previously worked at the high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, said the outcome ‘might’ have been different if the reality of the matter was known. 

Dr Williams, working as an independent doctor, did not have access to the notes made by Serina Juru, the psychiatric liaison nurse who initially assessed Ms Donaldson and rated her suicide risk as 10 out of 10. 

The court heard that these notes can be requested, but Dr Williams did not ask for them, meaning he was unaware the dancer had said she would take her own life once her sister left her alone. 

The lawyer representing the family, Matthew Hill, asked Dr Williams whether the assumptions downplayed the risk to Ms Donaldson – the psychiatrist agreed that was the case.

Mr Hill asked whether the Mental Health Act assessment ‘focused too much on how she presented to you and too little on how she presented 14 hours earlier’, to which Dr Williams replied: ‘Yes.’

Speaking about how Ms Donaldson came across during the assessment, he said: ‘It struck me how warm and personable Kerri-Anne was, it struck me that she was very open, it struck me that there was use of humour.

‘I deemed she was quite reactive, showing emotions appropriate to what she was facing,’ he said. 

‘I took that all as quite positive indication and used that to rule out certain other psychiatric disorders.

‘I didn’t believe that she was suffering from significant depression.’

Detective Chief Superintendent Sarah McConnell, of Hampshire Constabulary, said that the officer who carried out an enhanced risk assessment of Ms Donaldson while she was in hospital had acted ‘appropriately’ by not revealing to medical staff the nature of the offence she had been arrested for.

She said that the form was used by officers to assess the mental health of suspects of certain offences including what she described for Ms Donaldson’s case as ‘child sex offending’.

Ms McConnell said that the assessment was not designed for use by response officers, such as those attending the hospital with Ms Donaldson, but they had probably used it as a ‘belt and braces’ approach.

She said that Ms Donaldson had not wished to disclose the nature of the offence she had been arrested for to the medical staff.

Ms McConnell said: ‘With Ms Donaldson being present and able to speak on her own behalf … I would make no criticism of the officer as I think it’s an appropriate decision-call to make in the moment.’

Detective Constable Benjamin Harris, of Hampshire Constabulary, who led the investigation into the accusation against Ms Donaldson, told the inquest that the complainant was interviewed on video about the allegation. 

When asked by the coroner, Det Con Harris confirmed that the complainant had said that Ms Donaldson told them she would take her own life ‘if someone finds out’ about the allegation.

Det Con Harris said that he had considered the possibility that Ms Donaldson’s reported comments could be a ‘form of control’ against the complainant.

The court previously heard from Det Con Harris that the offences were ‘of a serious nature’ and the circumstance in which she had met the alleged victim and how that developed were ongoing.

He added: ‘Due to the nature of the offences from a police standpoint, we had the duty to make the arrest and question [whether] to put on our protection measures potentially protecting anyone who may have been made vulnerable from what had been reported to us.’

Det Con Harris added that Ms Donaldson had made a no-comment interview, and police conducted an enhanced risk assessment of her because of the offences and the material that they had gone through during the interview. 

The allegations were associated with a higher risk of suicide, he said.

Ms Donaldson performed on the ITV talent show Britain’s Got Talent in 2014 as part of the super-group Kings and Queens. 

Other members of the troupe included Kai Widdrington and Neil and Katya Jones, all three of whom later became professional dancers on Strictly.

Ms Donaldson’s sister, Cara, said in a tribute in court: ‘Heart of gold, full of fun.

‘Brought happiness to life, especially mine.

‘Career driven, adored her family, adored her friends, fantastic dance teacher, known in the community, to everybody and everybody loved her.’

Paying tribute at the time of her death, Strictly professional Mr Jones said Ms Donaldson was ‘like a big sister’.

On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: ‘Kerri Anne Donaldson – remember that name and please never forget it because it belongs to a woman who loved to dance, create and perform, she had the cheekiest laugh and a heart of gold.’

The four day inquest continues.

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