Hambledon murder accused's death at secure Manchester mental health unit 'not suspicious'

By Ben Fishwick

Chief reporter

Published 8th Oct 2020, 10:49 BST

Updated 8th Oct 2020, 12:08 BST

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THE death of a teenager due to stand trial accused of murdering his mother is not suspicious, police have said.

Rowan Thompson, 18, died on Saturday at a secure mental health facility at Prestwich Hospital in Manchester.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust refused to comment on what has happened.

Yesterday a spokeswoman told The News that ‘GMP are investigating’.

Joanna Thompson. Picture: Neil Marshall (180922-508)

Joanna Thompson. Picture: Neil Marshall (180922-508)

A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman today said: ‘At around 3.30pm on Saturday, October 3, police were called to Prestwich Hospital to reports of a concern for the welfare of a man.

‘Sadly, a man believed to be in his late teens passed away.

‘There are believed to be no suspicious circumstances and a file will be passed to the coroner.’

As reported, Rowan was due to stand trial charged with murdering his mother Joanna Thompson last summer in Hambledon.

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Mrs Thompson, 50, was discovered with fatal injuries to her neck at around 12.40pm on July 1 last year.

Rowan was previously detained under the Mental Health Act before he was charged.

Any deaths in prisons are investigated by the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman ahead of an inquest.

But NHS trusts investigate deaths in their own mental health facilities, with no independent body looking into the death.

The charity Inquest provides support to bereaved families of those who have died in state custody.

It said in 2015 the lack of an independent investigation into deaths in mental health detention is a ‘glaring disparity’.

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A later report in 2016, submitted to the Care Quality Commission in the wake of Southern Health's disastrous handling of patients' deaths, warned the ‘approach to investigations and investigation reports are inconsistent across trusts and mainly very poor in quality’.

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