Mother slams Alan Yentob for using son to score points in Kids Company row

By The Press Association17th October 2015News EnglandKids Company, News England

The mother of a teenager whose death Alan Yentob linked to the closure of Kids Company accused the BBC executive of trying to score political points out of the tragedy.

Police believe Jerrell Elie, 17, was hit and killed by a car after fleeing a party at a property in Brixton in August 8 this year – the first weekend after the charity closed.

Jerrell was a regular at Kids Company and Mr Yentob, the charity’s former chairman of trustees, appeared to refer to his death when he told MPs there had been stabbings, suicide attempts and a killing in the aftermath of the sudden closure.

Mr Yentob (pictured), the BBC’s creative director, said the violence kicked off as a “consequence of the absence of a place for these children to go”.

But Jerrell’s mother Amanda hit out at Mr Yentob, and told him to “stop using us, the community, as your scapegoat”.

Asked how she felt when he referred to her son, she told ITV News London: “At first I thought how dare you? Do you even know who I am? Did you know who Jerrell was?

“Even though he didn’t name him it’s obvious it was Jerrell he was talking about.

“I was upset because … how dare you mention my son’s name but you haven’t introduced yourself to me. You’re acting like you care but you don’t care. You don’t even know his mother’s name.

“Did you know Jerrell’s name? Did you know you were referring to Jerrell? Did you just use him as a statistic? To help you get through whatever you’re going through with Kids Co?”

She accused Mr Yentob of using her son to make a political point, and said he has never been in touch with her following her son’s death.

She told ITV News London: “I don’t know who he is and he doesn’t know who I am and to use Jerrell like that is not fair because it goes deeper.

“Stop acting like you care when you don’t care. Just to get yourself out of hot water basically. These are people’s lives.”

She added: “Stop using us, the community, as your scapegoat for whatever you conjured up in your offices. We are not the backdrop, so don’t use us as the backdrop. We are human people who need help.”

But Mr Yentob defended his comments and said he had taken care not to name anyone specifically in his evidence before Parliament.

He said: “This terrible tragedy had already been reported in the national media. In my evidence to Parliament I was asked about the assertion that there would be serious consequences to the closure of Kids Company.

“In that context I highlighted that in my view there had already been serious consequences but I took care not to describe the circumstances or to name the individual, although his name was already in the public domain.

“I have never intended to cause any distress, and my work with Kids Company has always been about attempting to help those with severe needs.”