THE fight to outlaw controversial "deliberate pain" techniques linked to the death of tragic Burnley teenager Adam Rickwood has reached London's Appeal Court.
Adam, who lived in South West Burnley, was the youngest person to die in custody in the UK when he hanged himself at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, County Durham, in August 2004. His death caused a public outcry and calls for restraint and discipline techniques in young offenders' institutions and local authority secure children's homes to be scrutinised.
Campaigners, including Adam's mum Mrs Carol Pounder, of Greenock Close, feel that not enough has been done to outlaw the techniques and guidelines setting out to regulate their use are "wholly inadequate".
Mrs Pounder has also won the right to a legal review of Adam's inquest, where the jury found Adam had deliberately taken his own life by hanging himself with his shoelaces. A hearing at the High Court in London is to take place in the autumn.
The review to outlaw techniques such as grinding knuckles under children's ribs and bending their thumbs into the palms of their hands, follows the banning of the "nose distraction" technique, used on Adam hours before his death and was stopped after an inquiry into his death, and the death of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt of Stoke-on-Trent, who died in custody in Coventry in April 2004.
Campaigners are challenging the methods at the appeal court, seeking to prove they violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
Speaking as the trial started, Patrick O'Connor QC said: "Every child deprived of liberty should be treated with dignity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human. It should not involve the deliberate infliction of pain as a distraction."
Calling the guidelines "wholly inadequate", Mr O'Connor added that, although the rules state the techniques should be used only "in extreme situations", statistics show they are used "many many hundreds of times" in secure youth centres around England.
Nathalie Lieven QC, for the Department of Justice, defended the rules, insisting pain-inducing restraining techniques do not violate European Law and their use is sometimes necessary "for the maintenance of good order and discipline".
>>Adam Rickwood: Mother's disgust at the inquest jury's decision>>WHY WAS ADAM, 14, ALLOWED TO HANG HIMSELF?>>March marks 18th birthday of tragic Adam The full article contains 392 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
