Jury retires at inquest into death of teenager being treated at Taplow mental health hospital

Jurors have been asked to consider whether the death of a teenager being cared for at a Taplow mental health hospital was gross negligence manslaughter, suicide, or contributed to by neglect.  

An inquest has been ongoing into the death of Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, who died while she was being treated at the now-closed Huntercombe Hospital, also known as Taplow Manor, in 2022.

After seven days of proceedings, inquest jurors began the process of deliberating the cause of her death today (August 13) - which coroner Ian Wade said could be one of three options.

Ruth was supposed to be under constant watch on a secure ward at the mental health hospital. But she was able to perform a fatal act of self-harm when a worker finished his shift and left her alone.

Archive image of Huntercombe Hospital

She died on February 14 at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, two days after the incident. The inquest has heard how the worker responsible for her fled the country soon after her death.

Speaking at Buckinghamshire Coroners Court today, Mr Wade told jurors a finding of suicide would need to prove that Ruth intended to end her own life on the day.

Mr Wade added: “It is open to you to find and record that whilst Ruth died from an act of suicide, this was contributed to by the act or omission of another [party].

“You would be entitled to find that a failure to maintain a constant observation by a designated support worker in compliance with a level 3 one-to-one watch contributed to [Ruth’s death].

“You must decide whether there was such a failure and if so, did that failure constitute neglect?”

Jurors could also consider unlawful killing - gross negligence manslaughter - as a verdict, Mr Wade said.

“It is defined as a gross failure to provide basic care to a person who was dependent on the provision of that care,” he said.

To reach this conclusion, Mr Wade said the jury would need to be ‘satisfied the person’s actions are said to have been a significant contribution to the death.

He added: “You must be satisfied that the circumstances were such that a reasonable and prudent person in this position would have foreseen a serious and obvious risk of death.”

Mr Wade also read jurors a summary of evidence heard over the eight days of inquest proceedings so far, before they retired to deliberate the case.

The inquest heard on its opening day, how Ruth had been ‘let down’ by the agency care worker at the hospital, who left her alone when he finished a shift on February 12, 2022.

He had used the fake identity ‘Ebo Acheampong’ to get work at the hospital – and fled to Ghana on a plane from Heathrow Airport in the days after Ruth’s death.

Police told the inquest that the man would not be facing charges because there was ‘not enough information’.

CCTV footage from the hospital on the day of the incident showed how the agency worker supposed to be supervising her, left her alone several times before he left at the end of his shift.

Other evidence included witness testimony from workers at the hospital who worried ‘staffing was always an issue’ and that a warning about low staff levels had been logged on February 12.

Ruth’s parents Mark and Kate Szymankiewicz also previously told the inquest their daughter had been ‘left to deteriorate’ at Huntercombe Hospital and her treatment there was ‘like torture’.

Huntercombe Hospital closed in 2023, following a series of critical inspections by industry regulator the Care Quality Commission, which branded its leadership and safety ‘inadequate’.

The inquest continues.

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