Boy, 14, Sent To Secure Unit Was Suicidal, Inquest Told

A teenager was found hanging by his shoelaces after he sent a letter saying that he would try to kill himself and this time succeed, an inquest heard yesterday.

Adam Rickwood, 14, who became the youngest child to have died in penal custody for 25 years, had made several attempts on his life, his mother told the inquest.

Carol Pounder told the hearing that the youth court which remanded her son to a secure training centre had not been told he was a suicide risk. She had warned staff at Hassockfield secure training centre in Co Durham that her son was a risk to himself, Mrs Pounder said.

Yesterday, three letters were read to the jury in which the teenager threatened to “do himself in” and expressed his pain at being held in a centre 150 miles away from the family home. He said: “I need to be home with you, I can just about last till my court date but it is not right, my head is fucked. I need to be at home in my own bed or I will crack up. I will try to kill myself and I will succeed this time.”

The inquest at Chester-le-Street heard that Adam had been charged with an offence of wounding while under a supervision order and had been remanded to a secure unit.

There were no such units in Lancashire, so he was moved from a non-secure children’s home to Hassockfield.

Mrs Pounder said that she had smuggled cigarettes into the unit. They were discovered by staff and the boy’s television was removed from his room.

Her barrister Richard Herman told the inquest that Adam had been admitted to hospital seven times after overdosing on prescribed drugs and alcohol and twice after cutting his wrists.

Carol Riggs, director of child intergrated services for Lancashire county council, confirmed that a pre-sentence report on Adam contained the words that “there is no evidence that he is at risk from self-harm”. The information about his suicide attempts should have been on the report, she said. The inquest continues.