Charlie Millers inquest: Son's mental health support was a mess - mum

Charlie Millers died on 7 December 2020

The mother of a teenager who took his own life while he was a patient at a secure mental health hospital has told an inquest his support "was a mess".

Charlie Millers, 17, was a patient at Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust's Prestwich Hospital in 2020.

His mother told the inquest there was conflict between social workers and the hospital's Junction 17 unit and she felt "nothing was getting sorted out".

Charlie was one of three people who died in less than a year at the site.

The deaths of Rowan Thompson, 18, Ania Sohail, 21, and Charlie, from Stretford, Greater Manchester, took place in a nine month period between October 2020 and June 2021.

Charlie's inquest was adjourned in 2023 after police announced they had started a manslaughter investigation.

The investigation concluded with a decision not to prosecute in January.

Charlie's mother, Samantha Millers, told Rochdale Coroner's Court that Charlie was born as a girl named Courtney but had begun to transition to male when he started high school.

Ms Millers said he was "an amazing human" who was a talented Morris dancer and footballer and said he began to struggle with his mental health when he was just five years old.

He began to say he was a boy and was "really confused" which impacted his behaviour, the inquest heard.

His mother said he was "quite naughty and attention seeking" and found it difficult to sleep.

She told the court about her son's behavioural issues at school and said he struggled with relationships when he began to identify publicly as a male when he was 12 years old and was severely bullied by one particular pupil.

The jury heard Charlie - who had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and suspected autism - had a history of self-harming and on one occasion threatened to jump from his school roof.

Charlie Millers was an "amazing human", says his mum

The court heard by the time he had left school after his GCSEs, his self-harming had become suicidal.

In mid-2020, social services were involved with the family because of issues concerning his mother's relationship.

Ms Millers told the court she struggled to keep Charlie safe, his self-harming was "really severe" and she had asked for more support, including a personal assistant for her son so she was able to sleep at night.

Charlie had a number of periods in the Junction 17 unit at the Prestwich hospital and his mother spoke of the need to make the house safe when he was granted home leave.

She described locking away in her bedroom any implements that he could use to harm himself and said there was "always a risk that we could find him not alive".

Ms Millers told the court there was a lot of conflict between social workers from Trafford Council and Junction 17, adding: "We would have safety planning meetings and nothing was ever decided at the end."

She told the court her son was self-harming on average three times a day.

"It was just constant," she said, adding the hospital was not checking what he was bringing back from home leave into his bedroom.

Ms Millers told the court: "To be honest I didn't believe he would be alive by Christmas - he didn't seem to be getting any support that would make him better.

"I just felt like nothing was getting sorted out."

She continued: "It was a mess. Nobody knew where he was supposed to be going. It was here, there and everywhere. Nobody knew what they were doing."

Charlie died at the Salford Royal Hospital on 7 December, five days after he had self-harmed at Junction 17.

The inquest continues.

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