(Image: Family)
A high-functioning autistic student who was found dead in the toilets at his sixth form college had hoped to go on to study in York, an inquest has heard.
Sam Coutts, 18, was found dead at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington, in January, following a meeting with the vice principal about social media posts in which he expressed he had a crush on his support worker.
Sam's mother Kirsten told the inquest the college failed her son, adding that he would have felt ashamed after the meeting which he was allowed to leave alone.
CCTV showed he went straight from the meeting to the toilets where his body was found three hours later by the college principal.
Emergency services at QE College in Darlington (Image: The Northern Echo)
In a statement summarised by the coroner, Ms Coutts said: "The college did not care appropriately and acceptably for my son.
"They failed completely in their duty of care."
Sam had previously suffered from bullying at secondary school and tried hard to mask his autism and did not want to be treated differently, the inquest heard.
He was studying A-levels in psychology, applied science and biology – which he hoped to read at St John York University.
His mother said in a pen portrait how change made him anxious and how he would go straight to bed after coming home from college if he was stressed.
His college was aware that he had autism and he was assigned a support worker, Lauren Crosby.
Ms Coutts said she was contacted by the college after the support worker apparently found Reddit posts he made talking about a crush he had on her.
In his posts, he also discussed taking oxytocin at college in an apparent bid to alleviate his autistic traits.
Ms Coutts, a nurse, was sceptical about how the support worker found the Reddit posts, given that Sam's account was not under his real name.
On January 13, the college called a meeting in which Sam was told he would have a different support worker.
The day before, his mother spoke to the safeguarding lead and said she urged staff to treat Sam gently.
Prior to the meeting, Sam told his mother he felt embarrassed and ashamed, she said.
He asked her if the Reddit posts made him seem "creepy and weird" and she reassured him that they did not, saying they had been respectful.
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After meeting Sam, the college vice principal Theresa Amarawansa rang Ms Coutts to say that the teenager was "positive and fine".
Ms Coutts said in her statement: "I said I find that hard to believe and the call ended."
She missed a subsequent call from the college as she was on shift at a hospital, telling her that Sam was missing from his psychology lesson.
She tried to call back but was told staff were dealing with an emergency but she was told it did not involve her son.
After she left work that lunchtime, Ms Coutts said she saw police and paramedics activity at the college but reminded herself that she had been told on the phone that it did not involve her son.
Police were to then arrive at her home to say that Sam had died, the inquest was told.
Ms Coutts said her "vulnerable" autistic son would have felt that "a rug had been pulled" when he was told about the change in support worker.
She further stated how he was not found for three hours after the meeting, despite him being marked as absent from his lessons.
Student was loving, gentle, quiet and engaging, mother says
The inquest also heard how Sam had intervened when a family member had a mental health crisis three months before and he managed to save their life by talking to them.
His mother described her son as loving, gentle, quiet, engaging, adventurous and erudite, with a wicked sense of humour.
Later, the inquest heard a statement from Ms Crosby in which she said Sam emailed her on Christmas Day with a link to the Mariah Carey hit All I Want For Christmas Is You.
She said on her return to college after the holiday break, it was agreed that Sam may not have understood the implied meaning of the song, but that there would be a gradual move to get him to work with another, male, support worker with whom he had already formed a positive relationship.
Ms Crosby said she subsequently found Sam's Reddit posts while she was browsing on the platform, but she did not know why they appeared on her feed.
She acted immediately and shared her concerns with members of the support team.
Vicky Wilkinson, head of additional learning support, said the Reddit posts had caused concern.
Asked about the potential harm to Sam in changing his support worker, she told the inquest: "The only alternative was to keep Lauren in place and that was not an option.
"The wording on the Reddit posts left us with significant concerns."
The inquest, which is expected to last three days, was adjourned until Tuesday.
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