Death of girl left unsupervised in psychiatric unit ruled unlawful

A vulnerable 14-year-old girl was unlawfully killed when an agency support worker failed to keep her under observation at a secure psychiatric unit, an inquest jury has concluded.

- Steven Morris Jessica Murray

The worker, who used a false identity, left Ruth Szymankiewicz alone even though she had complex mental health issues and was judged to need constant watching because she was a suicide risk.

Ruth was able to slip back to her room and harm herself at the privately run Huntercombe hospital near Maidenhead on 12 February 2022. She died two days later.

During the inquest it emerged that the worker, who went under the stolen identity Ebo Acheampong, had never worked at any hospital before the day he was put in charge of observing Ruth and did not receive an induction before his shift.

The jury at Beaconsfield raised concerns about the training of agency staff at Huntercombe and said contributing factors to Ruth's death included her not being prevented from accessing the material she had used to harm herself.

She did not receive therapy that may have helped while she was being detained under the Mental Health Act; family visits were limited though they may have helped her wellbeing; and she was able to access harmful material on her phone, the jury heard.

Speaking after the jury returned its findings, Ruth's parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and a consultant surgeon, said: "There is an empty space at our table, a silent bedroom in our home, a gaping hole in our family that will never be filled.