A decade after a young woman died in a secure mental health facility, an NHS trust and its ward manager are set to be sentenced for health and safety failings that contributed to her death.
A Tragic Loss and a Long Wait for Justice
Alice Figueiredo was just 22 years old when she took her own life at Goodmayes Hospital in London in July 2015. Earlier this year, after the joint-longest jury deliberation in English legal history, a jury found that the North East London NHS Foundation Trust and ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa did not take sufficient action to prevent her suicide.
Her parents, Jane and Max Figueiredo, endured seven months of a harrowing inquest, listening to graphic evidence that they say retraumatised them. "It's very distressing," Jane Figueiredo told Sky News, "because you know that she's been failed at every point all the way along, and you're also reliving the suffering that she went through."
A System Failure and a Family's Anguish
The court heard how Alice had explicitly voiced her fears about her own safety. Her mother revealed that Alice had told them: "The only way I'm going to leave this ward is in a body bag." This stark prediction, born from fear, tragically came true.
Max Figueiredo expressed his profound dismay that his stepdaughter died in a place they believed would provide care. "The fact we have these repeated deaths of very young people in secure mental health units shocks me to the core," he said.
Accountability and an Unending Grief
While the convictions offer a measure of justice, the family says they have never received a personal apology from the hospital trust. In a statement, the North East London NHS Foundation Trust said it was "deeply sorry for Alice's death" and had taken "significant steps to continually improve" safety and care.
For Alice's mother, the loss is a permanent wound. "As a mum your bereavement doesn't ever end," she shared. "The thought I won't even hear her voice is unbearable and I still miss it. I still miss her voice."
The sentencing, scheduled for next week, marks a sombre conclusion to a legal battle that has lasted over ten years since Alice's death.
