No more dead children, judge warns

A High Court judge yesterday warned the State and a health board: "I don't want another dead child on my hands. Three in one year is quite enough."

Mr Justice Kelly made the comment when calling for a secure place to be found for a troubled out-of-control boy, whose grandfather had appealed to the judge to find such a place for him.

Yesterday Mr Justice Kelly was dealing with the case of a 14-year-old boy which first came before the court last September.

In judicial review proceedings on behalf of the boy, orders directing the provision of appropriate care and accommodation were sought, and the boy was placed in a hostel.

His mother died in tragic circumstances in 1998, and his father left the family when the boy was two. Both of the child's parents were drug addicts. He has two brothers.

Counsel for the Northern Area Health Board said it had no appropriate secure place available, and Ms Iseult O'Malley, for the State, outlined options but conceded none of these was secure.

Mr Justice Kelly said the grandfather had given "very troubling evidence" of the boy's changing behaviour and had expressed concern that that behaviour would get worse as long as he remained free.

After a short adjournment for her to take instructions, Ms O'Malley said she had established that, although there were no remand beds at Trinity House, there was a sentence bed available.

That bed would not be suitable for anything other than the short term, she said. There was also the "unpalatable" option of placing the boy in St Patrick's Institution.

Mr Justice Kelly said Trinity House was preferable and directed that he go there for an assessment. He said he would review the case in six weeks' time.