Troubled teenager moved to England

A 14-YEAR-OLD Irish boy, said to be at the extreme end of disturbed behaviour, is to be moved from Scotland, where he is being treated on behalf of the Health Service Executive, to England for special assessment.

Mr Justice George Birmingham yesterday made orders facilitating his move with a special medical team from Scotland to St Andrews Hospital in Northampton, England.

Barrister Felix McEnroy, counsel for the HSE, told the court the St Andrews facility had a special familiarity with the boy’s mental condition and that staff there would carry out a special assessment of him over the next six to eight weeks.

Judge Birmingham was told that the boy’s case had been described by a Scottish mental health consultant as the most exceptional and difficult he had come across in his professional career.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is being treated in Scotland under the Mental Health Act due to a lack of appropriate facilities in Ireland.

The court was told he exhibited extreme violence towards other people and had seriously assaults members of staff.

He was beyond the control of his family and had been charged with criminal acts of violence.

Unless he was detained for treatment he would reach a stage of such violent behaviour he would be beyond help and probably spend a lifetime locked up in prisons or mental institutions.

The matter will be back in court on October 20.