'My daughter took her own life after being groomed - the law needs to change'

When a police car pulled up outside Sharon Baker's home one Sunday morning she "instantly knew" something had happened to her daughter.

As she watched the officers coming down the drive, her sense of dread grew bigger.

"They told me that she she passed away. She took her own life," she remembered. "My world crashed."

Carris Taylor had been groomed and sexually abused for two years by Oliver Beck, who she met when she was 14.

Her mother kept pushing for him to be arrested and finally, two years after they met, he was jailed for four years.

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But then her daughter read inaccurate information online, saying that her abuser was being released early from prison.

This is one of the reasons Baker believed contributed to her daughter ending her life in April.

Now she wants to change the law, to see sexual abusers held responsible if their victims take their own lives.

"I need to focus on this because if I don't, I've got nothing left, not of her," Baker said.

"I've got a beautiful family, beautiful friends, so much support, but I haven't got her."

Taylor first met Beck in 2023, when she was 14 and he was nine years older.

Thinking back, Baker, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said this was when she first noticed a change in her daughter.

She had been "vibrant, happy, down to earth" and "loved the sunshine, just loved life".

But her mother began hearing rumours from her daughter's siblings, how she had an "older boyfriend".

Beck then "poisoned her against me", she said.

"She wouldn't come to me, she wouldn't tell me anything, apart from mum 'I'm OK'."

Taylor placed herself in foster care and Baker said she took her concerns to the authorities, the police, social services got involved but "it was being completely denied".

"It didn't matter how much, how many phone calls, how much I asked for them to help us... they're just friends, there's nothing going on," she said.

"Then it started to become very apparent, that he was grooming and sexually assaulting her."

Baker kept pushing the police to arrest Beck, who was also from Nuneaton and, two years after they first met, he was jailed in May 2025 for four years, after pleading guilty to the abuse of Taylor.

A spokesperson for Warwickshire Police said they acted on all the information and reports available and carried out a " full and comprehensive investigation".

"We are not aware of a formal complaint, however, if there are any concerns about how the investigation was handled, we would encourage this to be raised through our complaints process," they added.

After Taylor's death, a review was carried out by Warwickshire County Council.

"We recognise that their background and circumstances were varied and complex and a range of help and support was offered," a spokesperson said.

Then earlier this year, sixteen-year-old Taylor was online and found information which said Beck was due to be released from prison, due to the early release scheme.

But what she read, was not true.

The BBC has had it confirmed by the Ministry of Justice that the details she saw online were false and had been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

Google started offering a new tool in the UK in 2025, "AI Mode", which gives an answer written in a conversational style, containing far fewer links to other pages.

Responding to the BBC, a spokesperson for the firm said it had been refining its AI Mode tool for more than 20 years to deliver reliable and helpful information.

The tool's responses were dynamic and could change over time, as more information or context was published on a topic, they added.

A spokesperson for the government said Taylor's death was "devastating".

They said their strategy to tackle violence against women and girls would "bear further down" on abusers while an extra £550m in victim support services would help survivors get justice.

But Baker wants more and has helped set up a petition, calling for a change in the law, to see abusers face a charge of manslaughter, if their victim goes on to take their own life.

She has the backing of her local MP, Labour's Jodie Gosling, who commended her bravery.

"I also really strongly feel that there needs to be an understanding through the prosecution system that of the long-term impact of rape and sexual assault on the victims," she added.

"It's not a single incident that then people somehow get over. It stays with them for their whole lives."

For Baker, the campaign is giving her a focus, to use Taylor's name to push for change.

"My daughter should be here. She should be with her sisters and her brother, and she's not," she said.

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