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Detainee, 15, choked to death 'No apology' to detainee's mother
(about 7 hours later)
A 15-year-old detainee died choking on his vomit as he was being held by three custody officers, an inquest has heard. The mother of a teenager who choked to death in a secure unit told an inquest she had been given no support by the authorities and no apology.
Gareth Myatt, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, lost consciousness and died at the Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre, Northants. Gareth Myatt, 15, choked on his own vomit as three officers held him down at Northamptonshire's Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in April 2004.
Jurors at the Rushden and Diamond Conference Centre in Irthlingborough heard how he said he could not breathe. His mother Pam Wilton told the inquest: "It has devastated me, it has virtually stopped my life."
The boy, who was starting a 12-month sentence for assault, was told: "If you can talk, you can breathe." She said she had received no offers of help from authorities since his death.
Gareth, who was 4ft 10in tall (1.25m) and weighed six and a half stone (41kg), is said to be the first child to die in a privately run secure training centre. She had also not received an apology from those in control of youth justice, she told the hearing in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire.
Technique banned Confused young man
He lost consciousness at the detention centre on the third day of his sentence, as three members of staff used a restraint hold called a "seated double embrace" in April 2004. "I feel like they couldn't be bothered," she said.
Two months after his death the restraining technique was banned. Miss Wilton said Gareth was a confused young man with issues about his mixed race.
The method involved members of custody staff getting either side of the prisoner, forcing them to sit down and holding their head forward. Gareth was held down by three custody officers on his bed in a Home Office approved restraint called a "seated double embrace" after lashing out during an argument.
Gareth was sent to this smaller institution because he was a small boy and vulnerable Retired Circuit Judge Richard Pollard Gareth Myatt was sent to Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre
Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre which is run by a private firm called Rebound on behalf of the Youth Justice Board, is one stage below a Young Offenders Institution. The hold - which involved Gareth being held sat down by officers and his upper body pushed forward - has since been withdrawn from use on the advice of police investigating the death.
In his opening address to the jury the coroner, Retired Circuit Judge Richard Pollard, said: "Gareth was sent to this smaller institution because he was a small boy and vulnerable." The inquest, at the Rushden and Diamonds Conference Centre, has heard an argument had started at the centre near Daventry after Gareth refused to clean a toasted sandwich maker used by inmates.
Custody officers David Beanall and Diana Smith used the Seated Double Embrace on Gareth after a row broke out in his room. Gareth was just three days into a 12-month detention and training sentence at Rainsbrook when he died.
Bent forward He was a vulnerable teenager, just 4ft 10in (1.25m) tall and weighed six and a half stone (41kg), which was why he was sent to Rainsbrook rather than a young offenders institution.
A third officer David Bailey came to help and took over on one side of the embrace. Even though the techniques used to subdue inmates at the centre were approved and taught by the Home Office, their use was meant to have been reviewed on an ongoing basis.
As he was bent forward Gareth told the officers he could not breath, but the officers ignored his claims, jurors heard. In the days after Gareth's death it was found that a review of the Physical Control in Care (PCC) techniques used on children had not been carried out in the four years before the incident.
The teenager then vomited down Diane Smith's leg and went limp. The hearing continues.
"Gareth died as a result of asphyxia resulting from a combination of inhalation of gastric contents and body position during physical restraint," Judge Pollard said.
The hearing, which is expected to last up to six weeks, continues.