THE mother of a young woman who was killed after escaping from a mental health unit told an inquest she was not told her daughter was missing.

Eastbourne student Janet Müller, 21, was burned in the boot of a car by Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw after leaving Mill View hospital in Hove, where she had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

She had escaped by walking out of the front door of the hospital earlier on the same day, March 12, 2015.

West Sussex senior coroner Penelope Schofield told a jury sitting at Crawley Coroner’s Court that during a two-week inquest they would have to make findings of fact about the circumstances in which Janet had been detained and how she came to escape from the hospital.

Janet’s mother Ramona Müller, who lives in Berlin, told the inquest she had not been told Janet had been sectioned or held against her will nor was she notified directly when she went missing.

She said doctors at Mill View would not let her talk to her daughter – or take her home to Germany – despite having legal power of attorney over her.

She said the hospital would contact Janet’s twin sister Selina, who was studying in Kent, despite her wishes to be the first port of call.

Ms Müller was dissuaded from visiting her daughter before she escaped the hospital and was killed – burned alive in the boot of a car in Rusper Road, Ifield, having been beaten.

Jeffrey-Shaw, of Lakeside, Beckenham was jailed for 17 years for manslaughter.

Ms Müller told Crawley Coroner’s Court: “I wasn’t informed how bad it was. Selina told me Janet was not feeling well.

“She had a psychotic episode.

“She had been taken to hospital in Eastbourne but ran away. Then she was taken into Mill View.”

Hospital staff had recorded Janet as a “high awol risk” and she was being monitored every 15 minutes, the inquest heard.

Janet had told staff that she “would kill herself if she was not allowed to leave” and had been kicking doors trying to get out. She escaped from her ward twice on March 12, 2015.

The day before she had packed her bags and tried to leave, the inquest was told.

Ms Müller said she was never told Janet was being held against her will or that she had been sectioned.

“They always said she was fine,” she said.

“I just thought she was a little bit ill.”

“I used to call Mill View but it wasn’t always possible to talk to somebody.

“They said they weren’t allowed to tell me how she was. I called the hospital almost every day.

“Selina was visiting. I thought about coming over but the staff told me to stay away and wait.

“I was told she was fine.

“One time I asked them to pass the phone over to Janet to let me at least talk to her for a second and they said no.

“I wanted to have her home

“I told them I wanted her home and they said no.

“They told me they would contact Selina first because she was in the UK. I said ‘I’m her mother’.

“I told them a couple of times to contact me first.

”On March 12 Selina called me and said Janet was gone. She had left the hospital.

“I went crazy. I organised a flight to come over and spoke to the German embassy.

“I called the hospital and they told me I shouldn’t worry.

“They said the police were looking for her with helicopters and they would find her.

“I came over on March 18 thinking we would find Janet.

“Selina met me at the train station and said ‘don’t worry we are going to find her’.

“But later she was told they had found her body.

“No one informed me.”

Mill View consultant psychiatrist Dr Kristina Antonova said Janet had given her permission to contact her sister and mother.

Dr Antonova said her sister Selina, who lived in Kent, would have been considered her “nearest relative” a term defined in law under the mental health act which excluded her mother because she did not live in the UK.

However she said she would encourage contact with family members.

“When we see patients on an adult ward we definitely encourage people to allow us to have contact with their families,” she said.

“But because of confidentiality if they say we can’t share details with their family and friends we would respect that.

“We can still listen to what those family members may have to say against them.

“When I spoke to Ramona Müller she was shocked to hear her daughter was in hospital.

“I was the first person to make contact with her. I explained her current symptoms but at that point she wasn’t sectioned. It’s process.”

Dr Antonova said that although Janet originally agreed to stay at Mill View voluntarily, she was later sectioned because of continuing concerns about her health.

Kirsty Heaven, representing Janet’s family, asked the doctor to confirm that Janet’s medical notes listed her mother’s phone number as a contact from March 3 and she said there was no record of Janet asking for her mother not to be contacted.

Dr Antonova added: “As far as I am able I would contact family.

“It’s generally good practice for a person’s family being contacted as soon as possible.”

The doctor fought back tears as she passed her condolences to Janet’s family, saying she had never dealt with a case of a patient absconding then being brutally killed before.

The inquest continues.