Family of teenager found dead in field say his death was 'avoidable'

James Phillips, 19, was reported missing on Friday, October 15 in 2021, sparking a police appeal as there were concerns over his mental health.

His body was found eight days later on Saturday, October 23, in a field near Abbey Farm Play Area in Blunsdon by police officers who also found a note in his backpack.

Statements were read out from James' mother Amalia Phillips as well as sisters Christina Phillips and Aycee Estanislao at the inquest into his death on Wednesday.

Wiltshire Coroners Court heard they believed James, who had made multiple previous attempts on his life, had been discharged too quickly from hospitals.

They also added that he was given too much control over his own medication and did not receive appropriate aftercare.

A photo of James Phillips released by Wiltshire Police in an attempt to find him after he'd gone missing in Swindon (Image: Wiltshire Police)

The court heard how James had wanted to become a pilot and had moved to Malaga, Spain in October 2020 at the age of 18 to train.

But ongoing stomach issues suspected to have been caused by excessive drinking led to his medical license being suspended and James moving back in with his mother in Swindon in June 2021.

James had a strained relationship with his mother while living with her and was experiencing ongoing difficulties with being displaced from Bahrain where he initially lived before the family moved to the UK.

He was also struggling to deal with the loss of his father, when he was just four months old and as a result, he was diagnosed with Emotional Unstable Personality Disorder.

Amalia said: “The first time I became aware of his mental health issues was around July 2021 when an ambulance arrived at the house.

"He’d called an ambulance because he wanted to kill himself, and after talking to paramedics in the garden for an hour, was taken to hospital.

“When he came back, he did not talk anymore about it. He did not talk to me about what happened at the hospital and things went back to normal.”

After this James made a serious attempt on his own life in July 2021, where he spent six days in the hospital before being discharged.

James was then admitted to the Priory Hospital in Woking, a private healthcare facility, where he received one-to-one treatment and therapy for three weeks under Dr Bachlani, before he was discharged.

“At this time he was spending most of his time in his bedroom, I was afraid to talk to him because I didn’t want to upset him,” his mother said.

James continued seeing Dr Bachlani, but after a session on August 26 he made two further attempts on his own life that month.

Amalia said that after the first one she asked the hospital not to discharge him, but he was discharged anyway.  

In September James self-harmed and made another attempt on his life and was discharged from the hospital 8 hours after being admitted.

In October James spent a week with a friend who was visiting and enjoyed his time with her, but on the 15 Amalia realised he was missing.

“I noticed his suit and leather shoes were missing, at 11am I called the police and told them to check Abbey Farm Play Area where he liked to go.

"Then on October 23 police told me James had been found near the park where I first told them to go.

“I feel my son’s death was avoidable if he had received the proper healthcare and aftercare.”

His sister Aycee added: “I feel my mother should have been given more support and guidance and that James was given too much control of his medication and treatment.

“This could’ve been avoided had he been given the right aftercare and not allowed so much control.”

James' body was found in a field near Abbey Farm Play Area (Image: Google Maps)

Dr Bachlani explained that James did not want his mother involved in his treatment and did not fit the criteria needed for this to be done against his wishes.

He said: “In my view, James always had the capacity to make decisions about his own health care.

“In general, I would try to work with the patient and family as much as possible because this provides better overall care, but if the patient’s decision is not to do that, it makes it more complicated and trickier when not allowed.

“The big difficulty was that James didn’t want his mother involved in the care. There are certain conditions where one can break confidentiality and go around this, but those are extreme situations. James didn’t want that so I couldn’t. “

Because James’ condition was worsening, his medication had changed several times throughout the course of his treatment with Dr Bachlani, who stated that everything he was prescribed was appropriate.

He was on two different anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and other tablets to help him sleep, which frequently increased and decreased in dosage.

But it was stated that as well as medication James also needed ongoing therapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy, but because of issues with the costs associated with continuing therapy with the Priory Group, James said he would source his own.

NHS doctor for Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Dr Ramesh Sivasubramanyam saw James once before his death.

“James was searching for the next medical option which would fix his life.. He was hoping that one pill or a combination of pills would sort everything out," he said.

“He had a sense of not belonging somewhere, feeling like a fish out of water, not gelling into the society where he was now. Life’s circumstances were not what he wanted to be.

“We needed to look into helping him with his coping and managing to bring about improvement.

He added that James had ‘inherently refused’ to allow him to involve his mother in any ongoing treatment.

The inquest is ongoing, with evidence still to be heard from police officers, and a verdict to be made by Coroner Ian Singleton.