A bright grammar school student who had a 'fear of failure' and suffered with mental health issues was found dead in a park after taking a heroin overdose, an inquest heard today.
Oliver Sharp, a former student at Manchester Grammar School (MGS), was found unresponsive in a secluded area of Gatley Hill Park on October 18, 2018.
The 16-year-old had previously told his parents that he wished to die and 'wanted the help that he desperately needed'.
He had gone missing from home several times, attempted to take painkiller and heroin overdoses and self-harmed regularly in the two years before his death.
Oliver, from Stockport, was described as an 'exceptional footballer' and an extremely bright pupil, who achieved top grades in all of his subjects.
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He had skipped a year at school and went into Year 7 at the age of 10, rather than at the age of 11.
But despite coping very well in the first few years at MGS, he began to experience mental health problems in April 2016.
Oliver's mother, Gail Sharp, told Stockport Coroners Court: "The first indicator that something was wrong was when Ollie stopped doing his homework. He started to get angry and become agitated.
"At first we thought it was just down to hormones and then it came to light that Ollie was self-harming after I saw a bandage on his arm.
"I was absolutely gobsmacked."
Mrs Sharp informed the school nurse and Oliver began having some cognitive behavioural therapy.
Weeks later, Oliver told his parents he had taken painkiller tablets and was rushed to hospital. He said that he just 'wanted to die and nobody cared'.
The teen was placed under the care of Children and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Stockport.
The family also went to see an independent psychiatrist as they did 'not really know who to talk to'.
Oliver was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but disagreed with it 'from day one' and would never accept these 'labels', his parents said.
"He seemed to know people at school who had Asperges and said that some people weren't kind to them", Mrs Sharp said.
"I wonder if he did not want to be labelled and saw this as a stigma."
Oliver went back to school in September after being 'reasonably stable' over the summer.
But during the second half-term, his mum noticed a dip in his mood.
She phoned CAMHS to make an appointment, but was told there was 'no appointment available until January'.
Just after New Year, Oliver took his second painkiller overdose at the family home. At the hospital, when Mrs Sharp asked her son what was making him sad, he 'could not say'.
Paul Sharp, Oliver's father, told the hearing how Oliver had made a comment about 'wanting the help that he desperately needed'.
"He had access to a lot of help and support. It was not that he was not getting any, he just did not feel it was right for him", Mr Sharp added.
After a number of weeks off, Oliver returned to school and it was decided he would sit two GCSE's in Maths and English alongside some home-tutoring.
But he decided to leave MGS rather than re-sit the year, after just writing his name on the exam papers and not completing them.
"I think he was such a perfectionist he was worried that he would not get the grades", Mr Sharp said.
CAHMS psychiatrist Dr Parthiba Chitsabesan said that Oliver was 'incredibly' bright' but that his emotional and social IQ was not in line with his academic IQ.
He had told her about the breakdown of relationships at school but he had a 'difficulty' understanding why they had.
Oliver then started at Beech Hall School in Macclesfield in September 2017 as a Year 10 pupil, but his moods fluctuated regularly and his attendance to lessons was sporadic.
Christy Wheatley, SENCo and Speech and Language Therapist at Beech Hall School, met with Oliver regularly throughout the year.
"He didn't really like labels at all, particularly the label of austim. He didn't think he had it", Ms Wheatley said.
"I thought when he was in a positive state of mind his social skills were brilliant. It was when he was perhaps not as bright as usual that his social skills wouldn't be quite as good.
"He would only go to lessons if he was feeling quite positive.
"It was the fear of failure that I think made him not go. And the fear of not being as clever as everyone tells him he is."
Oliver had become upset when he learnt that he would be transitioning to adult mental health services and went missing from home a number of times throughout the school year.
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Police found him on the 'wrong side' of a motorway bridge on one occasion and on another, he took himself to Manchester Royal Infimary and was later discharged.
In September 2018, Oliver took a heroin overdose and spent five days in hospital.
Mr and Mrs Sharp were told that Oliver 'would not benefit from being an inpatient' or being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
The teen was put on sertraline tablets and started having visits from a home treatment team.
But he started to become paranoid that police were tracking him and that he was being watched through his computer.
On the evening of October 17, 2018, Oliver went missing again after telling his parents he was going for a walk.
He was found on Gatley Park by a dog walker early the next morning and was rushed to hospital but sadly died.
A toxicology report said the cause of death was fatal heroin toxicity.
In a tribute at the time of his death, Beech Hall School headmaster James Allen said Oliver was an 'articulate, polite and engaging' member of the school community, an 'exceptional footballer' and a 'good friend'.
The inquest continues.
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