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PRESS RELEASE HOME SECRETARY PRITI PATEL MEETS WITH THE MOTHER OF RICHARD OKOROGHEYE The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has today met with our client Evidence Joel, the mother of Richard Okorogheye. Richard Okorogheye, 19, went missing from his home in West London on 22 March 2021. Richard was a vulnerable adult with a diagnosis of sickle cell disease and had been shielding in line with government guidance. Richard was reported missing by his mother on 23 March 2021. Richard’s body was found in a lake in Epping forest two weeks later on 5 April 2021. The family await the toxicology and post-mortem reports. The Metropolitan police’s response to Richard’s disappearance is under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following a complaint by our client. Evidence Joel, Richard’s mother, said: “My family and I are grateful to the Home Secretary for inviting us to meet with her today and for listening to our concerns about the Metropolitan police’s response to Richard’s disappearance and the ongoing investigation into his death. We trust that these concerns will be passed to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, that lessons will be learned and that the police will conduct a full and fearless investigation which is not predicated on the assumption of suicide. We need to uncover the truth of what happened to Richard.” Richard’s family are represented by Tolu Agbelusi and Tara Mulcair of Birnberg Peirce. BIRNBERG PEIRCE 27 MAY 2021

13 May 2021 MEDIA RELEASE Inquest finds gross failures in mental health care amounting to neglect caused the death of Neil Challinor-Mooney Before HM Senior Coroner for East London, Nadia Persaud Barking and Dagenham Town Hall 4-12 May 2021 Neil Challinor-Mooney, 51, died on 18 November 2018 after he was found unconscious in his room at Goodmayes mental health hospital in Ilford two days prior. An inquest yesterday afternoon (12 May 2021) concluded that Neil’s death was by suicide, caused by gross failures in the mental health care provided to him by the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), amounting to neglect. Neil had been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 since 1 November 2018, following a significant deterioration in his mental health. Born in Wales, Neil lived in Romford in supported accommodation. He was a vulnerable adult who had been under the care of NELFT’s community mental health team for many years. Everybody who knew Neil knew of his big heart, his kindness and selflessness. Neil’s family were everything to him; he loved spending time with his nieces and nephews. Being the eldest of six children, Neil always looked out for his five siblings. In the months leading up to Neil’s death, the inquest heard that there were frequent, poorly planned and communicated changes to Neil’s care co-ordination in the community – accepted by NELFT as being “vital” to Neil’s care. After Neil’s long-term care co-ordinator left the Trust in April 2018, Neil had a further three different care co-ordinators between then and October 2018. There were no formal handovers between any of Neil’s incoming or outgoing care co-ordinators. Neither Neil, his support worker at his residential placement, nor his family – who had been closely involved in his care for a number of years – were informed of any these changes. At the inquest, NELFT accepted that this failure to communicate with Neil would have caused him significant distress. It also led to inadequate supervision of his mental health medication in the community (which Neil had asked to be changed from depot injection to oral medication), contributing to his subsequent mental health deterioration and the need for Neil to be admitted to hospital. In October 2018, a month before his death, Neil was admitted to King George’s Hospital for treatment for diabetes. He was discharged back to his supported accommodation without anyone being informed, and experienced a significant deterioration in his mental health. This eventually culminated in his treating psychiatrist in the community recommending his urgent admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit. Despite this, Neil was not in fact admitted for a further two days, despite the efforts of his family and support worker, and the fact that Neil had agreed to an informal admission. After finally being admitted under section to Turner Ward at Goodmayes Hospital under the Mental Health Act, the court heard evidence of numerous issues with Neil’s care including: • Poor recording of Neil’s physical health issues – with records describing Neil as having “no issues” despite three falls on the ward requiring his attendance at A&E; • Neil was allocated a ‘named nurse’ on admission who went on leave the same day, and did not return until after Neil’s death; • A lack of any involvement of Neil’s family or care co-ordinator, despite his distress at being on the ward; • Clinical entries in Neil’s records that were significant to a proper assessment of his risk sometimes being completed by staff many days after the interaction with Neil; • Clinical entries in Neil’s records that were incorrect, resulting in incorrect information being used to inform his care and treatment; • The lack of a structured approach to assessing and documenting Neil’s risks and associated management plans by community and ward-based staff, in accordance with NELFT’s policies. On 13 November 2018, Neil disclosed to ward staff that he was hearing voices telling him to kill himself, and he disclosed details of how he would make a ligature to do so. Neil repeated this to staff the following day. Despite these clear indications of his escalating risk of suicide, the items he planned to use were not removed from him after these crucial disclosures. His level of observations – designed to prevent him from harming himself in a period of crisis – were not sufficiently increased. Despite the fact that the items had apparently been removed from him when he was first admitted to Turner Ward (despite there being no record of this), they were given back to him. The inquest jury could not conclude when the items were mistakenly given back to him – again, no record was ever made. On the morning of 16 November 2018, Neil was observed at around 08:00 walking towards his bedroom. Trust policy was that Neil should have been positively supported and engaged with; the observing nurse at the inquest accepted that he did no more than glance in Neil’s direction. Shortly afterwards, ward staff found that Neil had tied a ligature using the items he had planned to. Staff attempted to resuscitate him and called an ambulance. Neil was transferred to Queen’s Hospital intensive care unit in Romford, but he did not regain consciousness and he died on 18 November 2018. During the inquest, NELFT accepted that the root cause of Neil’s death was failure to appropriately manage his disclosure to staff, on two separate occasions over two days to staff, that he intended to use the items as a ligature. NELFT accepted that ward staff had the means and opportunity to ensure Neil did not have access to these items, or to increase the observations on him to constant (or ‘within eyesight’) observations – either of which would have meant that Neil did not have the means or opportunity to create a fatal ligature on 16 November 2018. After five days of evidence, the inquest jury concluded that Neil’s death was caused by suicide contributed to by neglect. The jury also found that … Read More

Letter from PALG INQUEST ILGSC UFF FINAL https://www.inquest.org.uk/george-floyd-blm-letter  

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PRESS RELEASE 8 July 2016 Hillsborough lawyers honoured at Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards The legal teams who acted for families of 96 Hillsborough victims won award for Outstanding Achievement at last night’s ceremony, organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group. Opening the evening, LAPG co-chair Jenny Beck described Hillsborough as ‘the most significant legal case in a generation’. One of the Outstanding Achievement award winners, Terry Wilcox from Liverpool-based EAD Solicitors, revealed his brother was a survivor of the 1989 disaster. ‘I could easily have been sitting on the other side of the courtroom,’ he said. He, along with the other winners, was presented with his award by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, to a standing ovation from the 500-strong audience. Speaking earlier in the evening, Baroness Lawrence had likened her family’s situation to that of the Hillsborough families. ‘It is so important to us to have support from legal aid lawyers. Without that, families like ours would never have got justice,’ she said. Speaking after the ceremony, Trevor Hicks, president of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, whose two teenage daughters died in the disaster, also paid tribute to the lawyers: ‘The lawyers who represented the Hillsborough families have transformed my view of lawyers. They fully deserve the Outstanding Achievement Award for the way they handled a complex task with great competence and sensitivity. They worked extremely well with us and with each other. I would like to say that we are extremely grateful to them for a good job very well done.’ More than 60 lawyers from six law firms and six sets of chambers acted in what was the longest inquest in British legal history, lasting over two years, and involving a million pages of evidence. The jury ruled that the fans had been unlawfully killed, and were in no way to blame for the tragedy. Speaking on stage on behalf of the award winners, Ruth Bundey from Harrison Bundey, talked about the exceptional level of ‘comradeship and co-operation’ that had developed among the legal teams. ‘We were all in it together.’ She also spoke about the families’ enduring agony and loss, and their relief as the jury’s decision was announced: ‘We saw stress and worry lift from the faces of the family members.’ She added that the inquest verdict was not the end of it for the lawyers: ‘That must be translated into scrutiny of what comes next. We look forward to prosecutions and new legislation – and real justice for the 96.’ Outstanding Achievement winners: Bindmans Hillsborough Team Birnberg Peirce Hillsborough Team Butcher & Barlow Hillsborough Team Broudie Jackson Canter Hillsborough Team Doughty Street Chambers Hillsborough Team EAD Solicitors Hillsborough Team Garden Court Hillsborough Team Garden Court North Hillsborough Team 1 Gray’s Inn Square Hillsborough Team Harrison Bundey Hillsborough Team Mansfield Chambers Hillsborough Team 4 Paper Buildings Hillsborough Team Full list of LALY16 award winners: 1. Legal Aid Newcomer – Darragh Mackin, KRW Law 2. Social & Welfare Lawyer – Lou Crisfield, Miles & Partners 3. Family Legal Aid Lawyer – Baljit Bains, Wilsons Solicitors 4. Family Mediator – Tracy Winstanley, Heaney Watson 5. Legal Aid Barrister – Elizabeth Callaghan, Dere Street Barristers 6. Mental Health Lawyer – Philippa Curran, Odonnells Solicitors 7. Children’s Rights – Clare Jennings, Matthew Gold & Company 8. Public Law Lawyer – Simon Creighton, Bhatt Murphy 9. Criminal Defence Lawyer – Simon Natas, Irvine Thanvi Natas Solicitors 10. Legal Aid Firm/Not-for-profit Agency – Anti Trafficking & Labour Exploitation Unit 11. Access to Justice through IT – Crowdjustice 12. Outstanding Achievement – Hillsborough Lawyers (see above) For photographs and more information, contact Fiona Bawdon, fiona.bawdon@blueyonder.co.uk; Carol Storer, carol.storer@lapg.co.uk Notes for editors 1. The Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards are organised on a not-for-profit basis by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, to celebrate the work of publicly-funded lawyers. They were founded in 2003. 2. LAPG is a membership organisation which represents lawyers delivering publicly-funded services. It operates throughout England and Wales, and members include private practice and not-for-profit organisations, barristers and costs lawyers. www.lapg.co.uk 3. The LALYs are funded by the generosity of our sponsors. Sponsors of the 2016 awards were: Tikit; Resolution; The Bar Council; DG Legal; Accesspoint; Irwin Mitchell; CILEx; The Law Society; The Legal Education Foundation; Matrix Chambers. Thank you to Legal Action Group our media sponsor.