Police chief's outburst sees teen girl taken out of custody

One of the country's most senior policemen has condemned the provision of mental health care for children in Britain as "unacceptable."

Paul Netherton, Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, took the highly unusual step of speaking out on social media after his officers were forced to keep a teenage girl in custody because, he said, there was no proper facility for her anywhere in the UK.

After his outburst, she has been found a bed tonight. But as ITV News reporter Duncan Golestani has more on what her plight has exposed - what some call - a worrying lack of care for the vulnerable

The chief executive of the mental health charity Mind has slammed the "terrible and shameful" situation which meant a girl with mental health issues was held by polic'

Paul Farmer said a police cell was a "completely inappropriate place to put someone who is so unwell", adding: "This whole episode shows how thinly spread NHS mental health services are."

Thousands of people with mental health issues are being taken into police custody every year because of a lack of mental health care provision, a leading charity has warned.

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said while the teenage girl being held for two days was “troubling”, it was far from an isolated incident.

The girl has now been found a place locally, NHS bosses have confirmed.

The police chief who raised awareness of a major shortage in NHS mental health care beds has welcomed news that a teenage girl is to leave police custody after a place was finally found.

Mental health experts have criticised “unacceptable” cutbacks to services in the UK which led to a teenage girl being forced to stay in police custody as the NHS could not accommodate her for two days.

Chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, Dr Peter Carter, said over the past four years more than 3,300 mental health nursing posts had been lost along with 1,500 available beds, despite a 30 per cent rise in the number of patients needing care.

A teenage girl with mental health issues who was being held in police custody due to there being "no beds available in the UK" will be moved this evening, NHS England has said.

A spokesman for NHS said the girl she would be moved to a "place appropriate for her care".

The mother of a teenage girl with mental health issues has taken a “big box of chocolates” in to police officers keeping her daughter in custody due to a shortage of NHS beds.

The 16-year-old was detained by Devon and Cornwall Police on Thursday night and sectioned yesterday – but with officers being told there was nowhere in the UK to transfer her to, they have kept her in the custody suite.

Asst Ch Con Paul Netherton said the girl’s mother was “grateful” that the force was taking care of her. They have even taken her a McDonald’s meal, he added.

NHS England has said it is working with police to establish the exact needs of a teenage girl currently being held in custody, with the aim of arranging suitable care.

A spokesman added the number of people with mental health issues ending up in police custody was down by a quarter overall.

The assistant chief constable who revealed a shortage of NHS beds meant a teenage girl with mental health issues had been forced to spend two nights in police custody has voiced his concern over the lack of provision for children.

Asst Ch Cons Paul Netherton, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said there were places for adults to be detained in an emergency – but not for children.

A senior police officer has said he is “very concerned” at a teenage girl with mental health issues having to be kept in custody because there is no NHS accommodation for her.

The 16-year-old has been in police custody since Thursday night, when she was taken in from Torbay Hospital after reportedly causing a “breach of the peace”.

Asst Ch Cons at Devon and Cornwall Police, Paul Netherton, said officers would not normally keep even criminals in custody this long.