A consultant at a heavily criticised London care home where a vulnerable teenager killed herself has been jailed for four months for failing to give evidence at her inquest.
Duncan Lawrence, of Sydenham in south-east London, had repeatedly refused to answer questions about the new regime he ushered in at Lancaster Lodge in Richmond, south-west London, after the death of 19-year-old Sophie Bennett in May 2016.
Lawrence, 60, who had a non-medical doctorate which might have been bought from a “degree mill” university in Denmark, was said at the inquest to have introduced “a dictatorship – with 19th-century governance”.
An assistant coroner, John Taylor, fined Lawrence £650 in May for failing to attend the inquest. The coroner also referred the matter to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, which charged him.
In what is believed to be the first such prosecution, Lawrence pleaded guilty in August to the offence of “withholding evidence/documentation in relation to a coroner’s inquest”.
Sentencing him at Wimbledon magistrates court on Wednesday, the district judge Andrew Sweet told him: “There is a good reason why people should attend or provide documents to a coroner when carrying out such an inquest, and that is expected to be done with full cooperation and without delay. You frustrated that process.”
Lawrence, who was unrepresented at court, apologised to Bennett’s family, but said the charge was “nothing to do” with him and was “all down to a big misunderstanding”.
Bennett’s father, Ben, had said after Lawrence had pleaded guilty: “The extent of his disrespect to us by not taking part in the process is extraordinary. There was evidence we wanted to be included. The whole inquest process was meant to be when you find out the truth of what happened.”
Earlier this year a coroner’s jury found that neglect at the Lancaster Lodge care home in Richmond, south-west London, had descended into “chaos” amid cost-cutting that had contributed to Bennett’s death.
The teenager, a former county-level swimmer who was described by her family as “bright, loving and caring”, died in May 2016. Her death came after upheaval instigated by the operating charity, Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International, which was advised by the internationally renowned mental health worker Elly Jansen.
Cancelled therapy sessions, the removal of key staff who were replaced by unqualified people, and the introduction of the “boot camp” regime had all contributed to Bennett’s death, the jury at the west London coroner’s court found in February.
In the UK Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
