Alistair Smith represented the families of patients who died while being cared for by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.
"They'd been told, they've been warned that she wasn't of the right frame of mind. They said, 'don't worry, we’ll up her obs, we'll keep someone with her. We'll keep a good eye on her'.Family 'affected for rest of their life' by death of Christie Harnett, 17, in mental health care"I had a lot of missed calls on my phone, I knew it was something serious," she told ITV News Tyne Tees.
In June 2019, Christie made another attempt on her life in a bathroom at West Lane. She died four days later on 27 June. It was under his leadership that a second patient, Patient X died, and whose death the trust is also been prosecuted over.Patient X's mother told ITV News Tyne Tees: "She wanted to get better - she wanted to come home to her children. She was a good mum. She was my baby."Like Christie, she took her own life using taps in a bathroom.
He told ITV News Tyne Tees: "The care must have been absolutely appalling, because it's not easy to bring a prosecution of a trust and it isn't done often.Former West Lane staff told they were 'being silly’ after warning management about patient deaths Following the sentencing of the trust over the deaths of Christie and Patient X, there are renewed calls for its chief executive to step down."If you do that it gives the trust a better chance of improving which is what all the people, all the patients want for this trust."Asked if Mr Smith thought there would be more deaths, he answered "yes".