THE mother of a Huntingdon teenager who died last week has spoken of her shock at her daughter’s death.

THE mother of a Huntingdon teenager who died last week has spoken of her shock at her daughter’s death.

Sixteen-year-old Chantelle Garside was found unconscious in her bedroom by her mum, Jane Hector, on Tuesday, April 3. Paramedics were called but Chantelle was declared dead. She had killed herself.

Miss Hector, 44, who lived with her daughter in Elm Close, said: “It’s not sunk in. It might be quite a few months until it does. It’s happening but it’s not happening… The house is just so quiet. It’s affected everybody so badly. There’s nothing that people can say, no words can convey.”

She explained that before her death, Chantelle was being treated for depression by a psychiatrist at the Newtown Centre in Huntingdon.

She said: “She committed suicide; she had been suffering from depression for about a year. She just didn’t seem to be getting any better. She didn’t feel loved; she didn’t feel that anybody cared. She thought she wasn’t good enough to be in this world.

“She was being treated by the teenage mental health team, but they weren’t able to save her.”

A Facebook page in her memory has been visited by more than 1,100 people, all expressing their shock and grief at Chantelle’s death.

Miss Hector said: “I wish she could have known how many people cared and seen it. It’s what depression does to you; it doesn’t matter what people say it’s what you feel inside. We need to do more for teenagers who are suffering with depression.”

A number of people on the social networking site blamed bullying for Chantelle’s suicide but Miss Hector said: “She was being bullied earlier on in her life but in the past few months she didn’t go to school – she just couldn’t face it because of the depression. Bullying wasn’t the full reason, just part of it.”

Miss Hector said she would remember her daughter’s big heart.

“She was funny and happy on her good days,” she said. “She was always messing about. She had such a big heart. If her friends needed her help, she would be there for them. This has left a massive gap in our lives. I’m just trying to take stock.”

Chantelle was a Year 11 student at Hinchingbrooke School.

News of her death was announced on the school’s website by acting head teacher Di Beddow on Wednesday last week.

In a statement, she said: “The school is arranging counselling services to be available at the start of term and we will then discuss an appropriate tribute to her together. Our thoughts are with Chantelle’s family and close friends at this sad time.”

A police spokesman confirmed that they were called to an address in Elm Close, Huntingdon, by the ambulance service at 10.18pm.

He said: “The death is not being treated as suspicious and the matter has been passed to the coroner.”

Ambulance service spokesman Gary Sanderson said: “We were alerted at 10.06pm and a girl was taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital where sadly she died. Our thoughts are with her family at this tragic time.