Teen Took Own Life After Support Worker Change, Inquest Hears

An inquest has heard that an autistic teenager died by suicide in the toilets of his sixth form college after being told his support worker would be changed because he had a ‘crush’ on her.

Sam Coutts, 18, was found dead at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington in January following a meeting with the vice principal. The meeting concerned social media posts Sam had made about the support worker.

Sam, described as highly-functioning, was studying A-levels and had aspirations to attend York St John University. He had been assigned support worker Lauren Crosby when he began to feel isolated while studying, due to concerns about his autism.

Miss Crosby, who is 11 years older than Sam, discovered posts on Reddit where he had written about her. On Christmas Day, he also sent her an email that included a link to Mariah Carey's song "All I Want For Christmas Is You."

A meeting was scheduled for January 13 where Sam was informed that his support worker would be changed. Prior to this meeting, Sam expressed feelings of embarrassment and shame to his mother, Kirsten. He inquired if his Reddit posts made him appear 'creepy and weird,' and his mother reassured him that they were respectful.

CCTV footage showed that Sam went directly from the meeting to the college toilets, where his body was discovered three hours later by the college principal.

At an inquest in Crook, County Durham, Ms Coutts stated that the college had "failed completely in their duty of care." In a statement summarized by coroner Crispin Oliver, the hospital nurse said, "The college did not care appropriately and acceptably for my son. The college let him go off alone despite me sharing my concerns. They didn't notice for three hours despite him being marked absent in class. There was little or no understanding of his ability to mask [his autism] and it was completely ignored."

Vicky Wilkinson, head of learning support at the college, acknowledged that the decision to remove Miss Crosby as Sam’s support worker would have been ‘uncomfortable’ but asserted that there was no alternative. "I don't accept I invited a risk to his wellbeing, the priority was Lauren's safety as well as protecting Sam," she said. "At the time I feel like we did enough. The only alternative would have been to keep Lauren in place and that was not an option. The wording on the Reddit posts left us with significant concerns."

In her statement, Ms Coutts described Sam as a “loyal and loving” boy who enjoyed boxing, DIY with his father Matthew, and traveling. She added, "Sam was a loving, kind, gentle and erudite son. He could always find something funny in every situation. Sam stated that 2026 was going to be his year. I just wanted him to be happy. Sam has left the hugest hole in our lives. I am just glad he was mine."

The inquest is ongoing.

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