Coroner urges speedy reform of discipline

The coroner who heard evidence about the death of a teenage boy in a youth jail in Northamptonshire has written to Justice Minister Jack Straw urging speedy reform of the way children are disciplined in custody.

An inquest jury found the death of Gareth Myatt, who choked to death while being restrained by three guards at a privately-run youth prison, was an accident that could have been prevented.

* Teenager's death an accident, says inquest - click here

Jurors criticised officials at the Youth Justice Board (YJB) for failing to review the safety of the Physical  Control in Care (PCC) restraints, which they said was one of the causes of his death.

Gareth, 15, was the first child to die while being restrained in custody when he choked to death at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre near Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, in April 2004.

Retired judge Richard Pollard, sitting as coroner in the six-week inquest, has written a 17-page letter to Mr Straw outlining 34 recommendations for the future care of children serving custodial sentences.

He said: "All those involved in the STC (Secure Training Centre) system need to consider very carefully and very regularly how they can learn lessons from what happened to Gareth Wyatt ... and how they can prevent another trainee dying as a result of physical restraint.

"I understand that there is now to be a 'joint review' on restraint. It would be a wholly unforgivable and double tragedy, would it not, if the holding of this joint review was to obscure the clear and urgent issues raised by Gareth Myatt's death?"

Gareth was three days into a six-month sentence when staff followed him to his room when he refused to clean a sandwich toaster in the communal area.

The inquest heard that while he was being restrained in a now-banned hold, the 4ft 10in, 7st teenager tried to warn staff he could not breathe but was ignored.