THE mother of a 21-year-old who took her own life behind bars has told an inquiry how she “was terrified of the unpredictability of the environment she was in.”

Linda Allan made the remarks as she gave evidence today at a joint fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of her daughter Katie and 16-year-old William Lindsay at Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Falkirk, Scotland, in 2018.

A student at Glasgow University, Katie had been sentenced to 16 months’ prison after drink driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving convictions, but took her own life just days before she was due to be released.

Ms Allan told the inquiry that she and Katie’s brother had visited her on June 3 and that her daughter appeared “exhausted” from being kept awake by abuse directed at her from neighbouring cells.

“She was petrified and exhausted as she hadn’t slept,” Ms Allan said.

“She told me she had asked to be moved to another cell. She didn’t feel safe.”

The following morning Katie was found dead in her cell.

Ms Allan told the inquiry that her daughter felt “violated” by repeated strip-searches — once in front of trainees — which, along with bullying from fellow inmates led to a deterioration in her physical and mental health.

Ms Allan said Katie’s alopecia was worsening, and there was clear evidence on her daughter’s arms that she had been cutting herself.

“Katie stayed with us the night before her sentencing,” she said.

“I saw her arms and there were no marks.”

Estimating her daughter had lost 80 per cent of her hair, Ms Allan said: “Katie’s hair loss was horrific.

“She was losing her hair on her eyebrows and her head and she was incredibly distressed by it.”

Ms Allan said that while her daughter “spoke highly of a number of prison officers” she was “clearly frightened” of others.

Despite the court being shown detailed evidence of bullying incidents being logged in April, two months before Ms Allan’s death, prison officer Heather Porter, assigned to Katie, told the inquiry she was not aware of any bullying.

When quizzed about the logs, Ms Porter replied: “We can’t access that intelligence.”

Asked if she had been aware of further logged incidents of bullying in relation to Ms Allan’s hair loss in June 2018, Ms Porter told the inquiry she believed other inmates in the same hall were being “supportive.”

The inquiry before Sheriff Simon Collins KC continues.