A woman who has fought for a public inquiry into mental health care failings since the death of her son has urged its chair to do the “most thorough investigation possible”.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing

Melanie Leahy said the inquiry needs to “set an example to the rest of the mental health providers across our nation to get their establishments up to standard or I fear many, many families will suffer the same losses”.

Her son, Matthew Leahy died in 2012 aged 20, days after being admitted for inpatient care in Essex.

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Lampard Inquiry: Families share grief

Matthew Leahy
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Melanie Leahy claims Matthew was ‘alone, malnourished and overmedicated’

Since then, Ms Leahy has claimed she has not been told the truth about how her son died.

Her tireless campaign has led to the Lampard Inquiry which is examining more than 2,000 deaths of mental health patients in Essex over a 24-year period.

Addressing the inquiry, with photographs of Matthew on a table in front of her, Ms Leahy said: “When Matthew became poorly we turned to so-called professionals for help, to help us understand what was happening and to help us find a way to help our son.

“I was the parent, it was my duty to protect my child. I worked hard throughout my life to give him a solid upbringing and teach him morals.

“I loved him, supported him, encouraged him and guided him, and nurtured him into his adulthood. Yet eight days in the care of the state and my son died. I will never come to terms with that.”

She said her son spent the last days of his life “in a place he called hell”, adding “now I truly believe it was hell on Earth”.

Melanie Leahy
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Melanie Leahy said finding who is responsible for Matthew’s death was ‘the focus of my life’

She alleged that during his time in the Linden Centre in Chelmsford, Matthew was “alone, malnourished, overmedicated, scared, bleeding, bruised, raped, injected multiple times, ignored and frightened”, adding there are “no records of any staff in those last days of his life offering him any comfort”.

The Lampard Inquiry opened earlier this month with its chair, Baroness Lampard, saying the number of deaths to be examined will be significantly in excess of the 2,000 considered by a previous investigation. The patients all died between 2000 and 2023.

A previous inquiry in 2021 did not have statutory powers and was abandoned after only 11 members of staff agreed to give evidence of the 14,000 contacted.

This week the new inquiry has been hearing directly from families of those who died.

Ms Leahy told the inquiry “this is a place I’ve fought a long time to get to for all the wrong reasons. I am Matthew’s mum and I bear witness for him. He cannot speak for himself or explain what happened”.

Melanie Leahy, whose 20-year-old son, Matthew, died in November 2012 while a patient at the Linden Centre mental health facility in Chelmsford, lays some flowers and a picture of him outside the Lampard Inquiry. Pic: PA
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Melanie Leahy lays flowers and a picture of her son outside the Lampard Inquiry. Pic: PA

Her son, she recalled “was a beautiful soul” who “understood compassion and cared for others. He was generous, he was kind, he excelled at school and he was smart. He was funny”.

“Since I first held my son in my arms as a baby I always expected to live my entire life with Matthew,” she said. “Now every day and every night I cannot escape the reality and the accompanying sadness that my beautiful, handsome boy is gone.”

Referring to her ongoing fight for answers she said “Matthew’s death and who was responsible for it became and still is the focus of my life”.

“In order to move on at all, I must have the truth I need to understand the specifics of Matthew’s death,” she said. “I need a clear picture of exactly what happened and to this day I do not have that.

“My journey thus far has been a long and arduous one. Over the 12 years to date I have gradually lost all faith, trust and respect as I’ve faced such intense pain from callous incompetence, systemic failure, antagonism, hypocrisy and prejudice. I have faced death threats, I’ve been ridiculed.

“I stand before you a broken person. My world has become a much darker place without the light of Matthew. How can it be possible I won’t see my son again?”

Read more:
What is the Lampard Inquiry – and what is it investigating?
Deaths of thousands of mental health patients to be investigated

Paul Scott, chief executive of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), said: “I want to say how sorry I am to anyone who has lost a loved one or whose care has not been of the standard it should have been.

“I welcome the Lampard Inquiry and we will do all we can to support Baroness Lampard and the team to deliver the answers that families and patients are seeking.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK