AN unlawful use of force contributed to the decision by Adam Rickwood, 14, the youngest person to die in custody in recent times, to take his own life at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in County Durham, an inquest jury concluded today.

Adam, of Burnley, Lancashire, was found hanged in 2004.

The jury of four men and five women agreed unanimously that before and at the time of Adam's death, there was a "serious system failure" in relation to the use of physical control in care at Hassockfield, giving rise to an "unlawful regime".

They found that Adam was unlawfully restrained and hurt in a way that contributed to his taking his own life.

They said more care should have been taken of the troubled and vulnerable teenager after his admission to the secure training centre near Medomsley, County Durham, in 2004.

Rajiv Menom, for the teenager's mother Carol Pounder, said the verdict condemned the Youth Justice Board and the entire prison system.

Assistant deputy coroner Jeremy Freedman had asked the jury panel to consider a series of issues and to decide whether they had contributed to the teenager's death.

These focused on the events in the run-up to Adam's death, staff training, the involvement of the Youth Justice Board, the Hassockfield regime and other factors the jury decided had contributed more than minimally to his death.

Adam's mother, Carol Pounder, wept as the jury announced its finding.

She said she wanted the guards who restrained Adam to be prosecuted and would be seeking legal advice in the near future.

Speaking outside the court, she said: "I feel that at last I have got some sort of justice for Adam.

"I have had six and a half years of waiting for this today and I feel like at last I have got some answers.

"What I have not had is for Serco or the Youth Justice Board to put their hands up and say Sorry, we got it wrong."