Police probing the rape and murder of a girl are still waiting for the pathologist’s cause of death report six months after her death, an inquest has heard.
Casey-Louise Horrocks, 13, suffered four cardiac arrests in August last year after travelling from Greater Manchester to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, to meet a 16-year-old boy.
The schoolgirl, who was in the care of the council at the time of her death, was later found ‘unresponsive’ in the boy’s room on August 11 and died in hospital the next day.
The boy was arrested on suspicion of the rape and murder of Casey-Louise and the rape of another 16-year-old girl in his hometown. He has since been released on bail.
Six months on, the cause of Casey-Louise’s death is still unknown despite a post-mortem.
Police have still not received the forensic pathologist’s report to determine this, the inquest heard this morning. A toxicology report has been completed.
Assistant West Yorkshire coroner Peter Merchant opened the inquest into Casey-Louise’s death but suspended proceedings for six months, at the request of West Yorkshire Police.
Casey-Louise Harrocks was being looked after in local authority care at the time of her death on August 12 last year after she suffered four heart attacks and was raped
Casey-Louise with an unnamed friend in a picture posted onto the GoFundMe fundraising site
Casey-Louise was born on 10 March, 2012, in Oldham, Bradford Coroner’s Court heard previously.
She died in Calderdale Royal Hospital, in Halifax, Coroner’s officer Victoria Normington told the hearing this morning.
‘The brief circumstances of her sad death are that the Yorkshire Ambulance Service were called to a house in Huddersfield regarding an unresponsive teenager,’ said Mrs Normington.
‘CRT [cardiac resynchronisation therapy] was commenced and Casey was admitted to the Calderdale Royal Hospital where she was initially unresponsive and unconscious.
‘She was taken for scans and CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] was commenced as she then suffered four cardiac arrests.
‘She was sadly pronounced dead, life extinct at 2.18am on 12 August.’
Casey-Louise was formally identified through photographic evidence given to detectives.
Pathologist Dr Kirsten Hope has performed a post-mortem to establish the cause of death but police have still not received her report six months after the young girl’s death.
A detective sergeant requested assistant coroner Mr Fleming to suspend the inquest proceedings for another six months, until 24 August.