A TEENAGER found hanged in his prison cell intended to take his own life, a jury has concluded.

Ryan Gorton had been at Deerbolt Young Offenders’ Institute at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, for 10 months when officers discovered him in his one-man cell on May 2, 2016.

It was the first incident of its kind at the prison which had only had one other fatality – when an inmate died due to a heart condition – since it opened in 1973.

The jury heard evidence for two days at Crook Coroner’s Court and were told the youngster had a history of self-harm.

The 19-year-old had been moved wings just three days earlier after he launched pool balls at his fellow inmates but was not considered to be at risk of suicide.

He arrived at the prison in August, 2015 and had been put on four Assessment Care and Custody and Teamwork (ACT) documents which were opened if staff raised any concerns about a prisoner.

Intervention action included different levels of observation leading up to a round-the-clock watch or ‘suicide watch’ which Gorton had been on.

Heather Spark, of the prison’s mental health service, was Gorton’s key worker during that time and said the ACTs had been opened due to him self-harming – which at one point included cutting his earlobes off.

She said the self-harming was always “reactive” to incidents but never suspected he would commit suicide.

Following the ‘pool ball incident’ on April 28; Gorton was sentenced to four days’ on the segregation wing.

However, when assessed by general nurse, Janet Tray, she decided there was a risk his mental health would “deteriorate significantly” and instead he was moved to a different wing and had his privileges reduced.

Being the bank holiday weekend, staff did not enforce the punishment fully but he was discovered hanged at about 6am on the bank holiday Monday during morning checks.

The alarm was raised and staff rushed to cut him down but they were too late as it was heard that he must have been dead several hours as rigor mortis had started to set in.

Gorton – from Bolton – had written a letter to his mother, Helen Gorton, which was discovered in the cell and talked about his future plans.

Other inmates also expressed their shock at Gorton’s death while his mother gave a statement saying she was due to visit and had never been aware of any self-harming issues.

The youngster was serving a four-year sentence for causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife after stabbing a fellow pupil at a learning centre in 2015.

The jury took two-and-a-half hours to return a conclusion of suicide caused by pressure on the neck and hanging yesterday.

Senior coroner for County Durham, Andrew Tweddle, said an investigation carried out by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman had been concluded.

He added he was satisfied that he did not have to report any matters under the Prevention of Future Deaths following the inquest.