Girl 'let down by care workers'

Tanya Rowe, who brought up 14-year-old Georgia Rowe, told the Daily Mail she would be considering legal action over her niece's death.

Georgia and Neve Lafferty, 15, died after leaping more than 100ft from the Erskine Bridge into the River Clyde.

The pair had spent a "happy" weekend with relatives but sneaked out of the Good Shepherd Centre where they were residential pupils shortly before 9pm and made their way to the bridge.

They were reportedly holding hands as they plunged into the water at the notorious suicide spot. Mrs Rowe questioned why care workers allowed Georgia to stay in an open unit where she was allowed out with permission, rather than in a secure unit.

She told the Daily Mail: "I cannot understand how two vulnerable girls could have been able to just walk out of their residential accommodation. I do not believe Georgia would have committed suicide and she would still be here if things had been handled differently."

Mrs Rowe, 46, cared for Georgia, who was born in Hull, from the age of six months after Social Services reportedly decided the girl's own mother Mandy Oliver was not fit to raise her.

She grew up in the quiet village of Sorn in Ayrshire and attended Notre Dame High School in Glasgow. However she became a troubled teenager, playing truant from school and occasionally disappearing from home.

She was placed with two foster families in Hull, whose authority oversaw her move to Ayrshire, and was later moved to the Good Shepherd Centre in Bishopton, Renfrewshire.

Mrs Rowe, 46, visited her every weekend and said their last afternoon together had been a happy one, with Georgia giving no hint of what was to come.