A father has been taken to the very limit of endurance during the past three years watching his anorexic daughter deteriorate before his eyes. Peter Wiltshire tells KATE THOMPSON of his despair...

DESPERATE Peter Wiltshire threatened to kill his anorexic daughter in a last-ditch attempt to get the treatment needed to save Karen's life.

He told medical experts caring for Karen, who weighs barely six stone, that he was prepared to commit the mercy killing and put his daughter out of her misery rather than see her sent home once again.

"She's just a poor little mite - I feel terrible as a person having to say this kind of thing but I didn't know what else to do I was so desperate," he said.

Peter's outburst followed the news that Karen, who has an identical twin sister Tammy and younger sister Sarah, must be discharged from the day care she currently receives before her 18th birthday. He fears that as an adult she will not receive the same level of care - and he wanted his daughter to be given one last chance to overcome the illness that has dogged her for three years.

"Once she leaves adolescent care and gets treated as an adult, I am worried that all that will happen is that she will be admitted to Southampton General Hospital to try to make her eat.

"All the way through I have pressed for her to have treatment for her psychological problems but I have been told she doesn't need that help.

"We have been trying to get a residential bed for her since last November but she has had to be a day patient instead. We can't cope with her at home - it is so difficult for the whole family," he said.

Within an hour of returning home from the confrontation at Leigh House in Winchester, Karen was taken to Marchwood Priory whose highly experienced team is able to treat a variety of mental health problems, including post-natal depression, addictions, work-related stress and eating disorders.

"We feel that Karen is in the right place now. This is a stepping stone for Karen - it is her last chance."

Southampton Primary Care Trust was unable to comment on Karen's case when we approached them.

Karen's plight was first highlighted in Living in July 2002. Peter and his wife Sally,, allowed us exclusive access to the family to highlight the cruel effects of anorexia nervosa.

Ever since the illness first started to take a grip of Karen, her family has struggled to come to terms with what is happening to her.

The Wiltshires have fought for her to receive the right treatment. They tried to get her on to a college course but by the time she finally started, her problems with eating had grown more serious and she had to withdraw and go back to Leigh House as a day patient.

"It has been so difficult for us as a family. We have all suffered. I just hope that someone will be able to engage with Karen - to find something to give her a reason to live.

"We have tried for the past three years and haven't been able to make that contact with her," said Peter.

AS the illness took a greater hold on Karen, she just seemed intent on starving herself to death.

Medical care she has received to date has focused on increasing and maintaining her weight, while trying to engage her mind in something than food.

But as she approaches her 18th birthday her father could see the clock ticking and felt his daughter would leave the relative security of the adolescent health service for the tougher world of adult care.

News that she was to be discharged from Leigh House in Winchester, where she has been a day patient for the past ten months, brought despair for Peter.

He had watched as his daughter's weight had plummeted to six stone and she had cut her arms to shreds in a self-harming frenzy that had left her with about 800 wounds.

"She uses her nails, teeth, a craft knife and a vegetable knife. They told us we should lock all the knives away but it's impossible to live like that in a family home," said Peter.

As a trained first aider, he had tended her when she cut her veins by accident and searched for her when she ran off into the night intent on freezing to death.

He had seen the look in her eyes and realised his daughter had lost the will to live, she had no reason to continue - she wanted her life to end.

"Things have been worse now than they ever have been before. We have been told at many meetings that she's not going to make it and she will probably die.

"People say they are amazed she hasn't killed herself before now.

"We haven't been able to connect with her during the past three years and nor has anyone else," he said.

And so it was that Peter told health care professionals at Leigh House that if they discharged his daughter, he would perform a mercy killing and take his daughter's life.

"I told them if they bring her home I will kill her myself. I would get in my car with her and I would drive at 100mph and close my eyes until I hit something.

"They told me I would die too and I said I didn't care any more.

"I didn't want to have to say it but I felt so desperate. I don't want to have to threaten to do this but I didn't know what else to do," he said.

"It makes me feel terrible, if she was an animal a vet would have put her down. She has no incentive to live, she can see no future."

Now with Karen receiving treatment at Marchwood Priory, Peter hopes his daughter will finally be saved from the ravages of anorexia.

"I feel awful that I had to make these threats to get something to happen. I feel she is in the best place for her now. They will make her eat but they will also help her with her psychological problems.

"I hope this will be a stepping stone for Karen - I see it as her last chance," he said.