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| Girl who died after Maidenhead hospital failure unlawfully killed | Girl who died after Maidenhead hospital failure unlawfully killed |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Ruth Szymankiewicz "was and still is deeply loved", her parents told the jury last week | Ruth Szymankiewicz "was and still is deeply loved", her parents told the jury last week |
| A 14-year-old girl left alone to self-harm at a mental health hospital when she should have been under constant supervision was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has concluded. | A 14-year-old girl left alone to self-harm at a mental health hospital when she should have been under constant supervision was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has concluded. |
| Ruth Szymankiewicz was being cared for by a member of staff on his first shift who had fake papers at Huntercombe Hospital, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, on 12 February 2022. | |
| Ruth, from Salisbury, was unaccompanied for about 15 minutes and left alone to walk around the hospital and to her room. | Ruth, from Salisbury, was unaccompanied for about 15 minutes and left alone to walk around the hospital and to her room. |
| It was there that she was found unconscious shortly afterwards. She died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later. | It was there that she was found unconscious shortly afterwards. She died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later. |
| She was being treated for an eating disorder when she was moved to the failing hospital, which has since shut down, from October 2021. | She was being treated for an eating disorder when she was moved to the failing hospital, which has since shut down, from October 2021. |
| It was rated inadequate and later requirements improvement in two separate inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2021. | It was rated inadequate and later requirements improvement in two separate inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2021. |
| More than half of the staff working on Ruth's ward were absent when a staff member was drafted in from another ward to watch her. | |
| The man, known to the hospital as Ebo Acheampong, had got his job there with false papers and had never worked in a healthcare setting before that day. | |
| CCTV footage showed him leaving the TV room, where he had been sitting with Ruth, before she eventually left it and went to her bedroom at about 20:00 GMT. | |
| Subsequently Acheampong fled the UK and returned to Ghana, where he is understood to have come from. | |
| 'Locked her away' | |
| The jury found contributing factors to her death included insufficient training of staff and that her care was "not suitable nor conducive" to helping her recovery. | The jury found contributing factors to her death included insufficient training of staff and that her care was "not suitable nor conducive" to helping her recovery. |
| She was also not prevented from watching "harmful material" online. Visiting arrangements in which only one family member could visit her at any time were also a contributing factor to her death. | |
| Her parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and surgeon respectively, made a statement outside Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield. | |
| Mr Szymankiewicz said his daughter was an "incredible, bright, friendly, loving and adventurous girl with a whole life of joy ahead of her". | |
| He added: "When at our most vulnerable as a family we reached out for help. | |
| "We ultimately found ourselves trapped in a system that was meant to care for her, to help her, to keep her safe and instead locked her away and harmed her." | |
| Ruth's mum added: "There is an empty space at our table, a silent bedroom in our home and a gaping hole in our family that will never be filled." | |
| You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. | You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. |