Prison Service: 15-year-old found dead at Lancaster Farms YOI

A 15-year-old boy was found hanging in his cell at Lancaster Farms Young Offender Institution in the early hours of this morning.

The Prison Service said that staff attempted to resuscitate Liam Phillip McManus and paramedics attended but he failed to recover and was pronounced dead at 7.45am. His death will be investigated by the prisons and probation ombudsman, as with every death in custody.

The news comes with an inquest underway into the death of 16-year-old Gareth Price, who was also found hanging in his cell at Lancaster Farms, in January 2005.

Campaign group Inquest said that Liam was the 30th child to die in state custody since 1990 and was serving a sentence of only one month and 14 days, for breach of licence.

Co-director of Inquest Deborah Coles said: “The responsibility for this death rests with a criminal justice system that sends a child to prison for one month and 14 days. This death raises issues that go beyond the prison walls and to the heart of society’s collective responsibility for tolerating a system that sends children into institutions that cannot keep them safe.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Our deepest sympathies are with Liam’s family and friends.”

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