Girl Died After Care Worker With Fake Identity Left Her Alone, Inquest Hears

A 14-year-old girl who was supposed to be constantly observed in a psychiatric hospital died after an agency support worker with a false identity left her unwatched, an inquest jury has heard.

- Steven Morris

After learning that Ruth Szymankiewicz, who had an eating disorder, had died, the worker fled from the UK to Ghana, the court was told.

Ruth's parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and a consultant surgeon, had been concerned about her being held at Huntercombe hospital in Maidenhead, Berkshire, because it was so far from their Wiltshire home and they thought a secure setting was wrong for her, the jury heard.

In a statement read to the inquest, Kate Szymankiewicz described her daughter as "vulnerable" and said what she went through at the hospital must have felt like "torture".

Assistant coroner Ian Wade KC told the jury that on 12 February 2022 Ruth should have been under constant watch at Huntercombe. He said: "On that day a new support worker had been recruited and came on duty."

The worker had been employed through a nursing agency and Wade said it "was understood" his name was Ebo Acheampong.