Family's heartbreak for daughter as hospital fined

"Alice's mother Jane Figueiredo and her husband Max Figueiredo told BBC Breakfast it had been helpful for them to hear the failings of the trust exposed. "We had to listen to a lot of misinformation during the trial and the impression given that things had been done properly," said Ms Figueiredo. But, she said, ultimately "the failings were shown up for what they were". "It was helpful for us to hear it named for what it was.""

"Ms Figueiredo killed herself using bin bags from a shared toilet, having previously made many similar attempts. The hospital had previously acknowledged the risk to patients of keeping bin bags on the ward. They were subsequently taken out of patient bedrooms however despite warnings from Alice's family, they were not removed from the communal toilet, which was left unlocked."

Alice Figueiredo, 22, died by suicide while being treated on a mental health ward at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford in July 2015. She used bin bags from a shared, unlocked communal toilet despite previous similar attempts and family warnings. The hospital had acknowledged the risk of keeping bin bags on the ward and removed them from patient bedrooms but did not remove them from the communal toilet. An Old Bailey jury found the North-East London Foundation NHS Trust breached section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The trust was fined more than £565,000 and ordered to pay £200,000 in legal costs; ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa received a six-month suspended sentence and 300 hours of community service.

Read at www.bbc.com