A CARE worker wept as she described the moment she was told two girls she cared for had fallen to their deaths from the Erskine Bridge.

Mary Stewart, a nightshift co-ordinator with the Good Shepherd Centre in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, said she vomited in shock on learning Neve Lafferty, 15, and Georgia Rowe, 14, had died in an apparent suicide pact.

The teenagers were residents at the centre and had gone missing when Ms Stewart received a phone call from police in October 2009.

The carer told a Fatal Accident Inquiry at Paisley Sheriff Court she had gone to a shop to get a DVD and sweets for the girls and when she returned Miss Lafferty and Miss Rowe could not be found.

She said: "When I got back into the building I told another girl to go and get everyone so they could watch the DVD, however she came back and said Neve and Georgia weren't there.

"At first I thought, 'that's fine, they'll be upstairs', so I went upstairs and asked where they were and was told they had been up in their pyjamas a wee while ago.

"Then I instinctively thought I saw their pyjamas in their bedroom.

"I still didn't panic, though, because Neve was a great practical joker, particularly towards me, and I expected to find her outside hiding behind a tree or something."

Ms Stewart said she searched the building and the grounds for the girls but could not find them.

She also instructed another care worker to drive round the neighbouring streets to look for them while she questioned the other girls on their whereabouts.

The witness sobbed as she added: "I then decided to call the police and I walked up to the phone and they called me.

"I answered the phone and a policewoman said 'Do you have any girls missing?' and I instinctively said 'Where are they?'.

"I expected her to say they were in the village causing mischief, but instead she told me, 'Two young girls have just gone off the Erskine Bridge'. I threw up and dropped the phone."

Ms Stewart added that both girls had seemed happy on the day of the incident and were making plans for the future.

She said: "I spoke to Neve on the phone and she asked me to get her some Irn-Bru from the shop as a treat. She also wanted to discuss what DVD we were getting. I had absolutely no reason to think she was feeling suicidal.

"Georgia had been in a lively mood earlier in the day. We sat and had afternoon tea and she was chatting away.

"She was looking forward to going for lunch with her aunt. Again, there was absolutely nothing to suggest there was anything wrong. She was laughing and joking."

The inquiry earlier heard Miss Rowe had run away from the centre several times in the month before the incident and was "struggling to cope" with bullying from another centre user.

Ms Stewart said she believed Georgia should have been moved upstairs in the centre to a more secure location. She raised this with centre management, but was later told the teenager was not being moved because she did not want to.

Procurator fiscal depute John Watt asked: "So a girl who is a serial absconder chooses where she stays?"

Ms Stewart replied: "All I can tell you is I suggested to staff why don't you just move her belongings upstairs and she'll soon follow and I was told they could do that, but it would mean physically moving her upstairs every night and we're not allowed to do that. It's too dangerous."

The witness also told the inquiry the centre had been under threat of closure since January 2009.

She added: "I wish it had closed down in early 2009."

When asked why, she replied: "Because Neve and Georgia might not be dead."

The inquiry, before Sheriff Ruth Anderson, QC, continues.