Mum, 36, tragically found unresponsive face down in sea off Blackpool's Gynn Square

A 36-year-old mum died during a break in Blackpool just days after being discharged from mental health care.

Sahra Warsame, from Hayes, west London, was found unresponsive face down at the edge of the sea off Gynn Square by beach patrol officers after she had been spotted by a passer-by on the morning of August 25 last year.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that Sahra had left her Blackpool seafront hotel, suddenly and without warning to members of her family who were accompanying her on the break. She was last seen crossing the road towards the beach.

Paramedics were called to the scene after she was found and administered CPR but she couldn’t be revived and died later in Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

The inquest heard that Sahra had been detained under the Mental Health Act at a mental health facility at Hillingdon Hospital for three months up to August 19 and had been cleared to live with her sister at a review several days later.

The family decided that a break in Blackpool would give her a refreshing change of scenery, having recently spoken about ending her life and, during a home break from her hospital care, having ingested bleach, she claimed by accident as she thought it was water.

Following her death, her family queried the timing and suitability of her discharge from Hillingdon with the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

The inquest was told that Somalia-born Sahra was a bubbly personality who had worked in health care but was in what her family described as a toxic unhealthy relationship and her mental health deteriorated following the birth of her fourth child.

Her children were taken into care and she was diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder with a history of adjustive disorder after she presented with paranoia and delusions. She was also described as an impulsive character.

Despite the bleach incident during a home break from treatment in June 2025 and on another occasion travelling suddenly to Nottingham from the hospital without warning, she was considered suitable for discharge in August after three months’ treatment.

Dr Rohan Padaruth told the inquest Sahra’s discharge plan was “appropriate for the level of risk she presented” and that there was no evidence that concerns expressed by the family had been under-appreciated.

Blackpool and Fylde senior coroner Alan Wilson said it was a sad case but there was no was evidence of systemic failure in her care by the mental health authority at Hillingdon Hospital and it had been justifiable for her to be discharged when she had been.

He said there was no evidence that Sahra had intended to take her own life or that a conclusion of misadventure or accidental death was appropriate.

It was not known how she came to be in the sea and Mr Wilson returned a narrative conclusion based on the circumstances of her death.