JUSTICE FOR KATE: A Bed & breakfast that housed Kate Walsh warned the council that she needed extra support, just months before she died of a suspected heroin overdose.

Sixteen-year-old Kate was sent to The Abalone B&B by Swindon Borough Council after she was caught shoplifting.

The owners of the Abalone were so concerned that such a young girl was left alone with them that they even wrote to the council about Kate.

Manager Chris Shilton said: "We are a privately owned bed & breakfast, but we have about 20 rooms that the council use, and we are paid the going rate by the council.

"We try and look after the people who come here as best we can, but we don't have any specialist training or anything.

"Kate Walsh stayed here several times and was a lovely girl.

"She was very young so we did send a report to the council suggesting that she needed more support than we can offer here.

"I'm not sure if anything was done about it, but the fact is that she is now dead, so obviously not enough was done."

Homeless people, drug addicts, people with mental health problems and asylum seekers are all regularly housed together and although the management give as much care as they can, there are no specialist workers there.

The rooms are covered by CCTV and anyone caught using drugs is usually asked to leave, but other than that there are no rules or curfews in place, and residents are free to come and go as they like.

Residents are given help with filling out benefit claim forms, and they can use the Abalone as an address for benefits or employment.

Mr Shilton said: "This is very much a 24-hour job for us, as the council can ring at any time of the day or night with people for us, and often the residents want to talk.

"Last night I was up until 3am with a girl who had a court case coming up and didn't know what to do.

"I remember Kate well, because she was here several times and she was a nice girl."

While she was at The Abalone, Kate overdosed and Mr Shilton rushed her to hospital.

He said: "People do overdose in here from time to time, it comes with the territory of housing people with drug problems.

"It doesn't happen very often, but even once is too often for me, it can be very emotionally draining."

Kate's mum Debbie Walsh said: "This just shows how whenever Kate asked for help she was just put in a more dangerous situation.

"That bed & breakfast was full of older drug addicts who could have lead her astray again, and it's a very dangerous place to put a vulnerable 16-year-old girl.

"Kate desperately tried to get help and get off drugs, but it seems like everywhere she went that was supposed to help her, she just ended up meeting older guys and getting drawn deeper and deeper into drugs."

Her father Anthony Walsh added: "Some of these so called help services were almost like training manuals of how to do drugs."

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: "The investigation into how the various agencies worked together to support Kate has already started.

"While this work is underway, it wouldn't be appropriate for us to comment on any of the details of the case."