'Let down by the system'

John Rounce told The Star he believed his son Daniel had been let down "in a big way" and should have been sectioned.

Daniel's grandmother Margaret Pettinger said: "It's wrong what they have done to that lad, they turned their backs on him.

"He should have been sectioned but he wasn't. If they had done that he might have been here now."

A Sheffield inquest heard the popular teenager was discharged from the care of Dr Mary Hamilton, consultant psychiatrist at Sheffield Care Trust, five weeks before he was found hanging at a pal's home in Brightmore Drive, Netherthorpe.

He had been referred to a counselling service but never attended his appointments.

Dr Hamilton said Daniel, of Chaucer Close, Parson Cross, had a "very troubled background" and was referred after hearing voices in his head, becoming increasingly violent, and saying he wanted to kill friends and family members.

She said: "He was emotionally unstable but I wouldn't diagnose a personality disorder in one so young. He wasn't psychotic or clinically depressed."

Asked why she had not sectioned him Dr Hamilton said: "I didn't think he needed sectioning. I didn't think there was an immediate risk.

" I thought there was a long-term risk but I didn't think it was immediate that I needed to admit him to hospital."

The court heard Daniel, who suffered from an eating disorder and regularly cut himself, told Dr Hamilton he would tie a belt to a tree and hang himself.

She said: "I didn't think it was imminent but I did think that at the end of his days he would kill himself."

She said his self harming wasn't related to thoughts of suicide, adding: "It was more self-mutilation, degradation and self-hate.

"It was to do with relieving tension which is very common for young people."

Det Con Mark Spencer said that on June 17 this year, two days before Daniel hanged himself with a belt, his page on the website MySpace was updated with an entry which read: "Tonight is the night I step up and end my pain which makes me suffer."

Daniel's dad said: "My son came to me two weeks prior to his death.

" He was doing well in his school exams, putting a bid on a council property, and was thinking of going into the Army. I find it hard to understand why he killed himself."

Speaking after the inquest his grandma added: "He was polite, caring and quiet, and he always had a smile and a laugh."

Recording a verdict that Daniel took his life, coroner Chris Dorries said: "When you read his writings I think the whole package leads me to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that, despite his young age, Daniel did intend to take his own life.

"It's a very sad situation for one so young."

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