Boy who hanged himself failed by experts
Jul 10 2008 The Journal
A DISTURBED teenager who hanged himself while in custody was failed by a number of experts, a report said yesterday.
Gareth Price, 16, from Ferryhill in County Durham, was found hanging at Lancaster Farms Young Offenders’ Institution on January 19, 2005, the day before he was due to be sentenced for rape.
A report into his death found the teenager was traumatised by the death of his older brother, who hanged himself in the garden of the family home in February 2001.
Gareth, one of 13 children, was remanded in custody for two counts of rape on September 6, 2004.
He pleaded guilty to the charge but soon began threatening to commit suicide or to self-harm.
The report by the Durham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) found that Gareth was failed by a string of professionals, both before and after his incarceration, including council youth offending services in Lancashire and County Durham, the prison service, his own solicitor and a visiting psychiatrist.
LSCB chairman Gail Hopper said: “It is clear from the detailed inquiries undertaken that lessons can, and should, be learned by all the agencies involved in safeguarding young people in custody.” A few months after his brother’s death, Gareth’s sister-in-law died in a car accident.
In January 2003, the teenager stole a car and was involved in a serious car crash in which a close friend, Liam Richardson, from Ferryhill, was killed.
Gareth was charged with death by dangerous driving and ordered to do community service in the cemetery where his friend was buried.
The report states that Gareth was not properly assessed during this period and was therefore not offered the help he needed to cope with the multiple losses.
Ms Hopper said: “It’s not possible to determine whether any of the actions which should have been taken would have prevented his death.
“What is clear is that services missed opportunities to intervene, they did not work together to identify and share information about Gareth’s vulnerability and this put him at greater risk.”
At the time of an inquest into his death, Gareth’s family issued a statement criticising the agencies that were responsible for his welfare.
“What hurts the most is that we now know that experts had seen Gareth while he was in prison and predicted that he was at a high risk of killing himself at the time of the sentence,” they said.
