Family of Sheffield student who took own life believe he could have been saved after previous suicide attempt

‘I don’t believe he wanted to die’

Sheffield Hallam University student, Oskar Carrick, was just 21-years-old when he was found hanged in the bathroom of his student accommodation at Bramall Court, Alderson Road North, Highfield, on June 19, 2021.

During an inquest into Oskar’s death on November 21, 2022, Sheffield Coroners’ Court heard how the promising film student had tried to kill himself using the same method just two months earlier on April 24, 2021, but his parents were only informed of the first suicide attempt after his death. Giving evidence, Oskar’s mother, Maxine Carrick, said: “I believe that had we been informed he would be alive. I don’t believe he wanted to die.”

Ms Carrick said Oskar's ‘life changed forever’ in March 2019 when he was involved in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury, which significantly affected his behaviour. Oskar’s injury meant he was classed as a vulnerable and disabled student, Ms Carrick said, adding that one of the reasons the family decided upon Sheffield Hallam for Oskar’s university education was because they thought it ‘would offer the support they believed he would need’.

Another was that he had a good support network of relatives and close family friends living nearby, however this was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in Oskar spending much of his time at university in lockdown and confined to his student accommodation.

Ms Carrick said that not only were the family not informed of his first suicide attempt, but they also did not receive any information concerning the escalating and ‘destructive’ behaviour displayed by Oskar at his student residence at Bramall Court over the course of a number of incidents, some of which involved him ‘hitting and smashing things’.

Concerns over Oskar’s welfare

Through statements summarised to the court by Assistant Coroner, Katy Dickinson, the inquest heard how Oskar’s flatmates and friends raised concerns about Oskar’s behaviour to members of staff at Bramall Court. Security guards working on the premises also periodically expressed concern for the wellbeing of both Oskar and his flatmates, the court heard.

Ruth Bundey, representing Oskar’s family, referred to a report made by a security guard on April 22, 2021 – just two days before Oskar’s first suicide attempt – in which he stated that he believed Oskar had ‘mental health problems,’ and added that he did not believe he was ‘equipped to help’ him.

“I can’t believe he was allowed to stay while he was displaying such horrendous, destructive behaviour, and these kids having to look after him – it's not fair,” Ms Carrick said.

Question of missed opportunities

The court was told that in the hours following Oskar’s suicide attempt, he was seen by mental health nurses from the Flow team – who assessed him on behalf of the Liaison Psychiatry team based at Northern General Hospital. He subsequently engaged with the Wellbeing Team at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) after they made attempts to contact him.

He initially refused to give consent for either team to pass on the details of his suicide attempt to his family, telling mental health nurse and Flow Coordinator, Becky Hughes, during an assessment carried out in the hours following it, that he ‘absolutely did not want to worry them’.

The court heard how Oskar eventually changed his mind, and provided consent for staff from SHU’s wellbeing team to share information with his mother on May 27, 2021 – less than a month before his death – however the details of his suicide attempt or concerning behaviour were still not passed on to her.

Group Director for Student Academic Services, Joe Rennie, stated during evidence to the court that if consent is given later on ‘that doesn’t mean we would retrospectively contact a contact’.

Mr Rennie continued: “We’re talking about an adult learner in education,” adding that while it was ‘clear’ Oskar had ‘some difficulties’ he was engaging with the Wellbeing Team and ‘was looking forward and making plans’.

Representing Oskar’s family, Ms Bundey responded: “It was probably a missed opportunity to inform the family,” but Mr Rennie said he did not believe that to be ‘clear’.

During the course of their evidence, Ms Hughes and Mr Rennie both agreed that it was also possible for confidentiality to be breached in ‘extreme’ or ‘emergency’ situations, respectively, but neither believed the criteria for doing so had been met in Oskar’s case. Ms Hughes said: “We can [breach confidentiality] in extreme circumstances, however Oskar was quite open, he was remorseful, he was making future plans.”

Through his assessment with Ms Hughes and another colleague at the Northern General, Oskar indicated that he was experiencing some struggles in his personal life, after splitting up with his girlfriend, and the knock-on effect on his friendships within their social group. Oskar also disclosed he was drinking ‘five pints’ on a daily basis to help him get to sleep, and said he had often struggled with a ‘low mood’ since suffering his traumatic head injury, following which he ‘felt very different’.

Recommendation for a ‘self-referral’ for talking therapies

Following his assessment, Ms Hughes said she and her colleague recommended that Oskar ‘self-refer’ for talking therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service in Sheffield.

Ms Dickinson, referred to the fact that Oskar was not registered with a GP in Sheffield, and asked Ms Hughes how difficult it would be for him to access IAPT’s services, given that he did not know Sheffield ‘brilliantly well’. “We gave him the details, we wrote them down for him. We gave him the number of the crisis team,” Ms Hughes said.

Ms Dickinson asked Ms Hughes where such an assessment is sent once it has been completed, to which she replied: “His GP.”

“And you know he has not got one [a GP] in Sheffield. How does that GP [in his hometown] access services for him in Sheffield,” Ms Dickinson asked.

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” responded Ms Hughes.

The court was told that Oskar’s family GP did not receive any of the details of his assessment. Mental Health nurse Marie Bailey subsequently carried out an investigation on behalf of Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust into the assessment carried out following the referral to the Liaison Psychiatry team, the court heard. Giving evidence, Ms Bailey said she concluded that the failure to inform Oskar’s GP of the assessment carried out following his suicide attempt had been down to ‘human error’.

She said she felt satisfied the error had subsequently been addressed through training opportunities and that Oskar's GP was informed of his requirement for mental health treatment after receiving a brief, one-page letter detailing his referral to IAPT. She also said she believed Oskar had not lost out on any potential treatment, because he was opposed to being prescribed medication.

Destruction of ‘occurrence book’

Bramall Court including Campus Operations Manager, Jill Hobson, also gave evidence to the court, during which Ms Dickinson referred to a meeting she had with a student living in Bramall Court who raised concerns about Oskar’s behaviour.

Following the meeting, Ms Hobson said she put a note under Oskar’s door – and emailed him requesting he come to see her.

“How did you follow up,” asked Ms Dickinson. Ms Hobson replied by saying she ‘went off sick after that,’ but recalled offering a new flat to the student who spoke to her in person about Oskar's behaviour. She stated the student said she was not interested in moving.

She admitted to ‘destroying’ an ‘occurrence book’ used by her and security guards to relay messages and log ‘small things’.

Ms Hobson told the court that staff also used two other books to log things, namely a reports book to formally record matters such as ‘damage’ or if staff have to ‘speak to someone’; and an ‘emergency book’ for when a student is taken to hospital. However, she noted that Oskar being rushed to hospital following his April 2021 suicide attempt was not logged in the latter book, because the ambulance was called by a friend of his, and not a member of staff.

Ms Hobson said she had been directly employed by Sheffield Hallam University in her role at Bramall Court, but had subsequently moved over to a different, but similar, role with Yugo, the owners of the student accommodation.

She said she ‘destroyed’ the occurrence book because no-one from Hallam came to collect it after things had moved over to Yugo.

Ms Dickinson asked Ms Hobson whether the occurrence book was destroyed following Oskar’s death, to which she replied: “Yes, we had a refurb in the office and a lot of stuff that was Hallam-related was destroyed. No-one came for the book, so we assumed no-one wanted it.”

Ms Dickinson replied: “As a lawyer, that terrifies me,” and also noted that Ms Hobson had made her statement to the court after reading statements that had been submitted by other parties.

“Getting to write a statement based on other people’s statements...I wouldn’t choose to do it that way.”

‘He made us very proud’

Ms Dickinson recorded a conclusion of suicide, and noted that Sheffield Hallam University was having conversations on a national level concerning the ‘consent’ students provide for information to be passed on.

Paying tribute to her son, Ms Carrick said Oskar had been a ‘sensitive, quirky and inquisitive child’ who developed into a ‘popular’ young man that loved the company of others.

In her statement to the court, she also detailed Oskar's many varied interests which included being an ‘impassioned cyclist’; an ‘avid collector’ of signs; a keen actor and a travel enthusiast who had hoped to move to Europe one day.

Ms Carrick added: “He wanted three things from life: to have a family, to work, travel and live in Europe and to make us proud. He managed to do one of those – he made us very proud.”

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