Why tragedies like Tamzin's are likely to go on happening

I've seen a lot in journalism – time spent working on a regional newspaper will do that for you – but the story of how the autistic teenager Tamzin Hall came to die in November last year still shocks me.

- By JAMES MOORE

Tamzin, 17, was being transported in a police car to a custody suite in Bridgwater, Somerset, following an “incident” at the care home in Taunton where she had been staying. It's a short trip of 12 miles, much of it on the M5.

Things took a turn, however, when at around 11pm, the officers transporting Tamzin stopped the car on the hard shoulder of the northbound carriageway for "safety reasons". Tamzin somehow managed to slip the handcuffs she was wearing and left the car, running onto the motorway. She got as far as the southbound carriageway when she was hit by a vehicle. She died at the scene.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been investigating the incident. The two officers involved one driving, the other sitting in the back of the car with Tamzin have been served misconduct notices "for a potential breach of their duties and responsibilities".

Clearly, there are many questions that arise from the incident, and one would hope that answers emerge as the IOPC's enquiries proceed. But one thing we can ask right now is whether those officers had the appropriate training for dealing with a distressed teenager with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other mental health issues. Inadequate training when it comes to dealing with people with these challenges is a common theme when tragedies occur.

In 2021, the Parliamentary Justice Committee published a report entitled "Mental Health in Prison", which found that "action must be taken to prevent mentally ill people being sent to or kept in prison due to a shortage of mental health services in the community".