Death of boy, 19, found dead in canal basin 'could have been prevented'

31 January 2024 , 11:08

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Tobias Mannering took his his own life, the inquest heard (Image: Facebook)

Death of boy who was found dead in canal basin 'could have been prevented'

Tobias Mannering was discovered near Ashton-under-Lyne after he took his his own life. He had mental health issues and faced violence and exploitation after becoming estranged from his family. An inquest at South Manchester Coroner's Court ruled personal risk factors were not accounted for properly and agencies did not share key information about him to coordinate his care. They included the NHS mental health trust Pennine Care, drug recovery service Change Grow Live (CGL) and mental health providers Big Life.

Manchester Evening News reports tributes were paid to the young man at the time of his death and his friend Tia Mellor said: "If he had a pound he'd give you 50p of it. He really cared, he would do anything for you. He was so open about everything, and it's just so sad."

Tobias Mannering, 19, died at Portland Basin on February 21 (Facebook)

On the final day of the inquest into his death yesterday, the senior coroner, Alison Mutch, said: "It is probable that had Tobias not been homeless, isolated and vulnerable, he would not have taken his own life." The court heard Tobias had a difficult start to adulthood and left home and stayed at a family friend's house for almost a year. But he left, became homeless and was exposed to hard drug use and violence based on his sexuality.

Many agencies believed that Tobias was hard to get hold of, the inquest heard, and did not know that he did not have a phone. When he went missing, no concerns for his welfare were raised by any of the agencies that he was known to. The difficulty in contacting him was dismissed by the coroner, who said that all any of them had to do was walk into Ashton-under-Lyne town centre, where he could often be found begging. "He was visible to any one who wanted to find him," the inquest heard.

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A week before his death, Tobias went to Tameside Hospital following an intentional overdose and spoke about what he had experienced while homeless. He was given a "safety plan" that involved procuring a mobile phone so that care agencies could contact him, as well as guidance to attend A and E should he pose a danger to himself. The next day he presented again but, when it became clear that no further assistance would be given to him, he left.

The inquest heard that many of the care agencies knew part of his story, but not all of it. Some knew that he had experienced sexual violence in his childhood, others that he had been sexually exploited and violently attacked while staying at The Town House homeless hostel in Ashton when just a teenager. None shared the information properly, including his multiple visits to A & E in the month before his death, the court heard.

South Manchester Coroner's Court in Stockport, Greater Manchester (MEN Media)

At the end of a day of evidence from all of the agencies involved in helping Tobias with his mental health issues, homelessness and occasional substance misuse, Tobias' father, Robert Jones, said: "He was just a young man, he was loved." Reporting a verdict of suicide, Ms Mutch said Tobias' decision to take his own life was intentional but could have been prevented through better communication between agencies, and better understanding of the 19-year-old's various risk factors.

She said in summary: "I entirely accept that since Tobias Mannering's death, all the agencies involved in Tobias' situation have taken an awful lot of steps to look at what happened and try to prevent a tragedy like Tobias' death from happening again. Clearly, tackling homelessness is a huge task, but working together to understand when someone is in crisis is a huge step forward. I understand that, were Tobias or someone in his situation to seek help in 2024, they would get it."

The coroner said a report to prevent future deaths will be issued on the concerns raised during the inquest and asked that the communication problems between Pennine Care and Big Life be resolved. Ms Mutch said: "There are many areas of concern here, but these areas are not specific to Tameside. Those issues are waiting lists for mental health treatment, those issues of how you support young people who are made homeless and have nowhere to go - particularly when they have a mental health crisis and particularly when their sexuality makes them more vulnerable."

She spoke to Tobias' friends said: "I am extremely sorry to everybody that has felt Tobias' loss, he was clearly estranged from his family at the time of his death but that does not mean that people do not feel his loss or that people do not care about him. I am sorry to both his family and friends, he was clearly a very big personality whose life ended in such a tragic way."

Dr Simon Sandhu, medical director at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “"We will learn from recommendations made to us and look at how we can improve and work together with other services to better help and support people.”

A Change Grow Live spokesperson, said: "Our service teams always aim to encourage people to engage with our services, and we will use the inquest and its findings to further improve our services."

The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email [email protected] or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.

Graeme Murray