Yahoo News 'This happened in a place which was set up to look after him' - The sad story of the Laughing Boy
To his family he was "gentle, quirky, hilarious" and deeply loved. He loved buses, Eddie Stobart, and speaking his mind. Connor Sparrowhawk also enjoyed watching the Mighty Boosh, lying in the sunshine and eating cake. He was known as Laughing Boy or LB.
But a decade ago the autistic 18-year-old died in a specialist NHS unit. Like one in four people with learning disabilities he also had epilepsy. In March 2013 he was admitted to the Short Term Assessment and Treatment Team Unit (STATT) run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. in Oxford. On July 4th that year he drowned in the bath as a result of an epileptic seizure. He was behind a locked door and no member of staff was on hand to help him.
Two years later an inquest concluded that Connor’s death was contributed to by neglect. Now the story of how his parents fought to reveal the truth of what happened is to be told in a West End stage play.
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His mother, Sara Ryan, and stepfather, Dr Richard Huggins, who helped raise him from the age of three, and now live in Buxton, Derbyshire, spent years after Connor's death battling to get justice for their son’s entirely preventable death. In 2018 Southern Health NHS Trust was fined a record £2m after admitting ‘systematic failures’ following the deaths of two vulnerable patients, including Connor.
Tomorrow "Laughing Boy" will open at Jermyn Street Theatre in London, written by celebrated theatre director and playwright Stephen Unwin. The play includes portrayals of Connor's four siblings, Sara, and Richard who is a lecturer in policing at the University of Salford. The production is based on the book Sara wrote "Justice for Laughing Boy - Connor Sparrowhawk - A Death by Indifference", which was published in 2017.
A preamable for the play says: "When he dies an entirely preventable death in NHS care, his mum Sara can’t get a straight answer as to how it happened. But Sara and her family won’t stop asking questions and soon an extraordinary campaign emerges. Demanding the truth, it uncovers a scandal of neglect and indifference that goes beyond Connor’s death to thousands of others."
The shocking story is nevertheless, according, to the script performed with "optimism, laughter, satire, and energy". In echoes of the Post Office scandal a key focus is the "reputation management " attempted by the NHS Trust that was proven to be at fault.
Richard believes the play will be a tribute to Connor, as well as making the case that disabled people must receive the correct quality of care for their specific needs. He said: “As a family we feel that this play, the actors, director and all involved have produced a fitting, moving and celebratory piece of theatre that is both powerful and highly relevant.”
Thanks to the tireless campaigning of Connor’s family, especially his mother, his case proved to be pivotal in highlighting failings in care for people with learning disabilities. His story is now studied as part of social work courses at Universities around the country, including Salford, Kent and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.
Sara's book included a foreword by human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy. She also led a highly effective media and digital campaign to raise awareness of what happened to her son. Stephen Unwin, heard about Connor through the media campaign, and asked if he might write the play about the family and Connor’s case.
“It’s a story about a family, one of whom dies – for awful reasons – aged 18. And this happened in a place which was set up to look after him. The play is the story from the ground up, it’s a huge story for a tiny stage, and that is really interesting,” said Stephen.
When the legal process got underway, the family’s tireless efforts caught the attention of top barristers from Doughty Street and Brick Court Chambers. They offered their services ‘pro bono’. The teenager’s death led to the discovery that Southern Health had failed to properly assess the deaths of 857 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems over four years.
The play which opens today, (April 26th) is, say Connor's family, another milestone in their campaign to raise awareness of the failings that exist in the system.
A Professor of Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University, Sara has been involved with the scriptwriting of Laughing Boy from its inception three years ago. She said: “It’s been very important to me to have input into the creative process. As soon as I met Steve Unwin, who wrote and is directing the play, I could tell he just ‘got it’.
“I’ve been invited to sit in on rehearsals with the actors too, which will be fascinating, and quite surreal. I’ve been blown away by the script, which captures Connor’s personality perfectly. As well as some powerful scenes that will no doubt be hard to watch, I’m also expecting some real belly laughs because Connor was just so funny.”
Richard and Sara believe malpractice and poor service persist in the care of highly vulnerable people. But the family’s determination to address the problems not only forced senior people at the NHS Trust to take full responsibility, but has also shed light on the issue and helped ensure that care providers are under much greater scrutiny that they ever were before.
An independent investigation published in February 2014 found Connor's death was preventable and there were significant failings in epilepsy management and clinical leadership.
Two months after Connor's death, an unannounced inspection by the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, found that the unit had failed to meet all of the 10 key safety and quality standards which were the subject of inspection, including respecting and involving people who use services. The STATT unit was subsequently closed down.
After the inquest verdict, Deborah Coles, Co-Director of the charity, INQUEST, who supported the family, said: "The inquest provided a shocking insight into the neglect of a vulnerable teenager failed by those who should have been there to protect him. This death was initially dismissed by the NHS Trust as 'natural causes' and not subject to an independent investigation. Were it not for the determination and tenacity of the family and their legal representation the truth about this preventable death may not have emerged."
