A mother’s suicide that shames all of us ...

The GRAINY images of Charlotte Bevan leaving hospital cradling her four-day-old daughter are too haunting for words. Still wearing white hospital slippers and only a flimsy T-shirt and leggings, she ventured into the freezing night from Bristol maternity hospital with her tiny child inadequately wrapped in a baby blanket.

The following night, her body was found one-and-a-half miles away, down a cliff at the bottom of the Avon Gorge. hours later, police discovered her dead baby Zaani Tiana nearby.

The CCTV images will haunt nurses and doctors who will wonder if they could have done more to protect this vulnerable young mother with a history of mental illness.

The hospital staff are accused of failing her and an inquiry has been set up to investigate. But surely we can’t lay the blame on an over-stretched NHS.

Charlotte left the hospital at 9pm and walked through streets teeming with people. how could anyone have failed to notice she should not have been out at that time of night with such a vulnerable little being in her arms?

Why did no one approach her? Why did no one call the police? We have no idea whether she was visibly distressed, but the very sight of her should have sounded alarm bells.

everyone who saw her on that last journey let her down. But then, as a society, we have a real problem with our attitude towards mental illness. Too often we turn a blind eye, perhaps because we have no idea how to deal with those who suffer from this stigmatised condition.

Suffer they do. A new survey revealed that one in five young people are afflicted by depression, and women like Charlotte are especially vulnerable. From the little we know, her acute depression was complicated and triggered by her father’s sudden death.

BUT depression can affect people from all backgrounds, and be brought on by all manner of circumstances. So why is it talked about in whispers? So often, as in Charlotte’s case, mental sickness can be controlled by drugs — and it is especially poignant that she had stopped her medicine so she could breast-feed her baby. Why don’t we approach it as we do other illnesses that respond to drugs — like diabetes, for instance?

Perhaps, if we did, those who saw Charlotte and her baby on that bitter night would not have passed by on the other side of the road.