'Not enough information' to charge Taplow support worker after girl's death, inquest hears

The second day of an inquest into a teenager who died at a Taplow mental health hospital heard there is ‘not enough information’ to charge the support worker who failed to keep her under constant supervision.

The staff member, who used a fake ID to get work at the now-closed Huntercombe Hospital (later renamed Taplow Manor), left 14-year-old patient Ruth Szymankiewicz alone when he finished a shift in February 2022.

Ruth was supposed to be under constant supervision while receiving treatment on a secure ward, but she was able to perform a fatal act of self-harm when alone that day.

She died on February 14, 2022, two days after the incident at Huntercombe Hospital.

Ruth was described as 'the kind of daughter you can only hope for' by her parents (image: family handout).

The hospital closed in 2023 following a series of critical reports by care industry watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

An inquest into Ruth’s death at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Tuesday (August 5), heard how police were not pursuing charges against the worker – who fled to Ghana in the days after the incident. 

Asked whether the worker was ‘wanted’ by police, Thames Valley Police detective sergeant Francesca Keen told coroner Ian Wade, ‘no, sir’.

DS Keen said: “From our investigation, all the information we’ve gathered, there is not enough information to charge him.

“And without that, we wouldn’t be able to get an extradition warrant for this man.”

‘No prospect of conviction’

DS Keen, who led the police investigation after Ruth’s death, told the inquest that part of the investigation found the worker had been called to help another patient as he finished his shift.

“It was felt that he felt he needed to go assist this emergency shouting [from] another room,” she said, “which was actually in the room next to Ruth’s.”

The worker remained on site until around 9pm that day, after his shift finished at 8pm. He also returned to the hospital the following day to give a statement on the incident.

Questions were, however, raised about the ID checks the worker had passed to get work at the hospital.

The worker – whose real name was not revealed at the inquest - used the identity of a real person called Ebo Acheampong in his work application for the healthcare agency Platinum.

The inquest heard how the real Mr Acheampong had been contacted as part of the police investigation and it was determined that he had ‘suffered some sort of identity theft’.

The inquest heard how he completed a day and a half of online training, and passed an ID check at the agency, before he started his first shift on February 12, 2022.

His application to Platinum, DS Keen said, had included references and a physical ID check.

DS Keen said ‘all references’ on his application had been interviewed as suspects in a fraud investigation.

“However, there was no realistic prospect of a conviction in that,” she added.

‘He walked out while ambulances were there’

CCTV evidence showed the worker remained at Huntercombe Hospital for around 45 minutes after his shift finished until 8.45pm, the inquest heard.

Paramedics and police were at the hospital shortly after a 999 call came in about Ruth from the hospital at around 8.20pm.

DS Keen told the inquest the worker ‘was aware that some sort of incident happened in her room’, but had to leave because he was ‘getting a lift home’.

Mr Wade asked: “So, it would appear that he may still have been on the premises, coincidentally with the arrival of ambulances?”

“Yes, when he walked out of the hospital, the ambulances were there,” DS Keen replied.

The inquest heard how police had tracked the worker and found he had remained in Buckinghamshire for days after the incident.

He boarded a plane from Heathrow to Ghana, using his real identity, on February 17.

At the inquest opening on Monday, inquest jurors were told the man ‘was never seen again’.

The inquest continues.

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