Ellis Murphy-Richards: Questions over Kent transgender teen's death
- Published
A transgender teenager who had struggled with mental health walked out of counselling session after expressing suicidal intentions, an inquest heard.
Ellis Murphy-Richards died after he was hit by a train on 30 September 2020.
The inquest in Maidstone heard he was receiving care from North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) when he disclosed suicidal intentions.
Caroline Allen, representing the trust, said appropriate steps had been taken to safeguard the 15-year-old's life.
Representing the family, barrister Rachel Barrett spoke about the counselling session and said the teenager "was assessed to be at such a risk of harm that he needed to be conveyed to accident and emergency immediately".
She said there had been "a duty on the trust" to take "reasonable steps".
The inquest heard Mr Murphy-Richards, who had disclosed a suicide attempt the night before, left the session rather than attend hospital.
Ms Allen said what happened had been an "extremely fast-moving situation".
'TikTok concerns'
The inquest heard the teenager, who struggled with self-harm, had lived with his grandmother in Faversham, Kent, and died weeks before his 16th birthday.
Mr Murphy-Richards was described by his family as a "delightful" teenager who loved to laugh and entertain.
His grandmother Sharon Murphy described him as an "extremely intelligent" person who was "always talking about TikTok".
His mother Natasha Murphy said: "The majority of the time Ellis was a very happy person but unfortunately he had the impulsive behaviours as well."
The teenager's mother had called for social media app TikTok to be involved in the inquest after raising concerns about potentially harmful content and algorithms which may have increased his access to it.
Her lawyers said the coroner opted not to include TikTok in the scope at an earlier pre-inquest review.
The inquest continues.