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Salma’s friends Rosie Edwards, Sophie Woods and Becky Edwards. |
‘They could have saved all this grief by letting Salma go home’
Friend of girl killed in car crash while in care recalls how she hid runaway under her bed
AS she hid her runaway friend under her bed, Haverstock School pupil Becky Edwards knew something was wrong.
She may not understand the foster care system but she knew it wasn’t right that she had found young Salma ElSharkawy shivering outside her window in the middle of the night.
The 12-year-old had taken shelter in a council estate stairwell after running away from her foster carers.
The fleeting visit – some time last year – was just one of many moments when Salma’s friends would step in to protect her.
This week, Haverstock pupils Sophie Woods, 14, and sisters Becky, 13, Rosie, 14, and Emily Edwards, 17, talked to the New Journal about their memories of the friend who brightened up their schooldays.
Salma died in a car crash in July after being sent to a children’s home in Derbyshire while under the care of Camden social services.
Rosie said: “She used to say she would nick a horse from Derbyshire and ride down here to get us all.
“School’s boring now. She used to liven things up. If anything happened to her she could handle it.”
Emily, who became Salma’s mentor and friend, said: “I still laugh at the day Salma got a bowl of ice cream and put it on my head, so I put ketchup on her jeans. We got chucked out. Salma wanted the food fight.
“When she was on the run, all we wanted to do was put a smile on her face. She’d gone through so much.”
Sophie added: “When she ran away she felt free and happy. She could be wherever she wanted. I always wanted to be with her so she didn’t get hurt on the streets.”
To her friends, Salma was chatty, mischievous and thought nothing of snapping friends’ cigarettes to stop them smoking.
Like other girls, she loved playing on swings, drinking from her favourite water fountain in Regent’s Park or crashing bumper cars at the Trocadero centre in the West End.
But behind the big smile was a lonely child who, according to her letters home, just wanted to be with her parents.
Emily said: “We didn’t want to leave her but we had to go to school. We wanted to make sure she was safe. One day she came to school in her pink pyjamas. She said she had run away. One of the teachers gave her a uniform.”
Becky added: “She called me the day she died. She asked how the school policeman was, she got along with him. She said she hoped she could come and see me soon.
“We visited her in Derbyshire. It was so boring there. When there’s a quiet moment you think of her.”
To Salma’s young friends, the way the adult world handled her care seems incomprehensible.
Emily said: “We read how much they spent on her care. They could have saved all this money, these problems, this grief by letting her go home. They could have saved Salma’s life.
“We all say Salma died to get her voice across. God picked her at that time on that day because she wanted everyone to know this is what I’ve been through, this is how it ended.”
Emily added: “Salma knew her carers didn’t have to love her, they just got paid for it but when Salma found all of us to be her friends she knew she was loved by a lot of people.”
Investigations into Salma’s care under Camden social services are continuing, while police are preparing a report into the cause of the fatal car crash in Derbyshire.
Police are also examining Salma’s diaries and have confirmed they are investigating claims of abuse. An inquest has yet to be held. |
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