Teenage girl was victim of rare heart syndrome

Sophie Kirkland, of Broadlands, Meltham, was staying at the Primrose Valley caravan park, near Filey, when tragedy struck during a holiday.

An inquest into her death heard the Honley High School year 11 pupil was staying on site with a friend on May 8. The following morning she was found unresponsive and was taken to Scarborough Hospital but confirmed dead a short time later.

Recording a verdict of natural causes yesterday, North Yorkshire East Coroner Michael Oakley said she had suffered sudden adult death syndrome.

He had heard from consultant pathologist Russell Morgan who told Scarborough's Coroner's Court her heart had been sent for examination in London but no visible abnormalities were found.

"Sometimes you can get sudden cardio deaths were you do not find any abnormality," he told the hearing.

There are about 500 such cases each year in the UK and families needed to be screened in case any of the victim's siblings were also at risk.

"In my report I put down the cause of death as unascertained. However, there were two possible causes."

One was epilepsy because the post-mortem examination revealed Sophie had bitten her tongue. The other was a heart problem. "I certainly cannot rule out the latter," he added and agreed the uncertainty meant the case should be treated as sudden adult death syndrome.

"I think the term sudden adult death syndrome would be appropriate, with the proviso that it would be sensible to screen relatives for cardio issues," he said.

Sudden adult death syndrome (SADS) covers several different genetic heart weaknesses.