Youth's death sparked review

Gareth Myatt died four days into a 12-month sentence

Almost two years ago, a teenager entered a secure training centre in Northamptonshire to begin a 12-month detention for assault and theft.

Four days later Gareth Myatt was dead.

Gareth, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, lost consciousness while being restrained by staff at Rainsbrook, near Rugby, on 19 April 2004.

He was pronounced dead at Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital, prompting not only a police investigation but a wider inquiry into the use of restraint at youth facilities.

A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive, and the Crown Prosecution Service said there should be no charges, but his death was enough for lobby group the Howard League for Penal Reform to commission an inquiry.

Double embrace

The inquiry, by Lord Carlile, found there were 15,512 instances of use of physical force against children in custody between January 2004 to June 2005 - 118 of them had been at Rainsbrook.

On the night of Gareth's death, two male staff and a female colleague had used a restraining hold on the seven-stone youth.

The "seated double embrace restraint" was designed specifically for use with juveniles in secure units and was also used in some local authority children's homes.

The manoeuvre involves two members of staff securing the young person in an interlocking hold while seated on a chair or bed.

One member of staff is placed at either side of the young person, each securing the young person's near arm with one hand.

Hold barred

The other hand is passed around the young person's back to assist in securing the arm on the opposite side

Following Gareth's death, police recommended that use of the hold be suspended.

Staff were subsequently banned from using the restraint hold by the Youth Justice Board, which administers youth detention centres.