The family of a 17-year-old beauty student who killed herself after being held in police custody is launching a legal challenge against Home Office detention policies. Kesia Leatherbarrow, from Manchester, died in December after spending three days in police custody for breaking a window and possessing a small amount of cannabis.
Kesia was arrested after breaking a window at a residential care home for ex-addicts while trying to visit a friend. She was held for two nights and three days before being released. Hours later, she hanged herself. Her mother, Martina Brincat Baines, said Kesia had told police she would kill herself if released and should be taken to hospital.
The judicial review, brought by charity Just for Kids Law, challenges the policy that only under-17s are entitled to be transferred to local authority care homes overnight. The Home Office has indicated it will extend the protection to 17-year-olds but has not set a date for legislation.
Kesia's death is the latest in a series of suicides by 17-year-olds after release from police custody, including Joe Lawton in 2012 and Eddie Thornber in 2011. Their families are supporting the legal challenge, arguing that current policies fail to treat 17-year-olds as children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Shauneen Lambe, director of Just for Kids Law, said the Home Secretary had previously committed to protecting 17-year-olds but had stalled, including by rejecting an amendment to the Criminal Justice & Courts Bill. The charity is now asking the courts to compel the government to act.
