Warning: The following article contains details about suicide which some may find distressing
Cerys Lupton-Jones pauses between two doorways.
One door leads into a side room in the Manchester mental health unit where she’s a patient. The other leads into a toilet.
The 22-year-old had tried to end her life just 20 minutes earlier – but no staff are seen on the CCTV footage from inside the unit.
She hesitates for about 30 seconds, walking backwards and forwards. Then she enters the toilet and shuts the door.
The next time she is seen on the footage, doctors and nurses are fighting to resuscitate her.
Cerys dies five days later, on 18 May 2022.
A coroner has concluded that some of the care Cerys was given at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, was a “shambles”.
Staff were meant to be checking on her every 15 minutes.
But the last recorded observation – at 15:00 – had been falsified, saying she had been seen in a corridor. CCTV shows at that point, Cerys was already in the toilet where she would fatally harm herself.
A staff member who was supposed to be looking after her has now admitted to falsifying these records.
Zak Golombeck, coroner for Manchester, said that if someone had stayed with her after the earlier attempt to take her life, what followed may never have happened. He said neglect was likely to have contributed to her death.
Campaigners are calling for an inquiry into the number of deaths at the mental health trust and believe the services are in crisis.
Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust said it “failed her that day, and we are so very sorry that we did not do more”.
Family handout
Cerys was a patient at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Cerys’s parents, Rebecca Lupton and Dave Jones, describe their daughter as a loving young woman who would do anything for her friends. She was studying to be a nurse and was months away from completing her degree, with a job lined up.
She was autistic and had also struggled with her mental health since her teens.
Her family, who lived miles away in Sussex, say the pandemic and the reduction in community mental health support exacerbated Cerys’s problems.
The inquest was told Cerys had tried to take her life in the days running up to her death, spending time in A&E.
She was then readmitted to Park House and put on one-to-one observations for a short time. Later, she was supposed to be checked by staff every 15 minutes.
The inquest heard how, at about 14:35 on 13 May 2022, Cerys was found in a toilet by Mohammed Rafiq, a health support worker who had been assigned to check on her. Cerys had tried to hang herself.
Rebecca Lupton and Dave Jones describe Cerys as a loving young woman
Mr Rafiq and the duty nurse, Thaiba Talib, intervened.
However, the inquest heard the 15-minute observations were not then increased and staff had no proper conversation with her.
The nurse told the inquest she did not believe Cerys meant to seriously harm herself.
She told the coroner she chose not to increase observations on Cerys because she did not want her to feel punished, as she did not like being under observation.
When asked by the coroner if she should have gone with Cerys to her room after the incident and check she was safe, Ms Talib answered: “In hindsight, yes.”
Damning CCTV from inside the unit was described minute by minute in court.
It showed Cerys going into the ward garden at 14:42. The observation record, which says at 14:45 she was in her bedspace, was described by the coroner as “not accurate”.
At 14:54, Cerys walked into another toilet on the ward and closed the door.
Yet Mr Rafiq told the coroner he remembered seeing Cerys at 14:57. He wrote in the observation notes that he had seen her at 15:00 “along the corridor, looking flat-faced”. He then went on a break. In reality, Cerys was still in the toilet.
The coroner told Mr Rafiq that his recollections were wrong, and that he had “falsified” the observation records. Mr Rafiq responded: “I’m afraid so”.
Mr Rafiq said other staff had shown him how to record observations every 15 minutes, even if he hadn’t done them at that time. “That’s how they did it and that’s how I did it”, he told the court.
A new support worker took over the observations at 15:00. There was no verbal handover and, according to Mr Rafiq’s notes, Cerys had just been seen.
The CCTV shows the new support worker checking on other patients. At 15:15 she looked for Cerys.
She could be seen becoming increasingly desperate as she searched the communal areas and ran along the corridor.
At 15:19, she tried the door to the toilet, using a master key to unlock it. She found Cerys inside and immediately raised the alarm.
By that point, 25 minutes had passed since Cerys went into the toilet. She died in hospital on 18 May, five days later.
The coroner said there was a gross failure by Ms Talib to provide “basic medical attention to a person in a dependent position”.
He also found there was a culture of falsifying records on the ward.
The coroner said it was not clear what Cerys’s intention had been. In a narrative conclusion, he recorded that neglect had contributed to her death.
“Cerys was a wonderful, wonderful young person”, her mother Rebecca Lupton said
“I knew it was bad,” Cerys’s mother Rebecca told the BBC, “but listening to the evidence highlighted quite how poor the care was.”
Her father, Dave, says when Cerys was sectioned and taken to the hospital at the start of 2022, they believed it would keep her safe and help her get better. “In fact, it just made everything worse,” he says. “It was the wrong environment.”
“Cerys was a wonderful, wonderful young person. We feel that she would be here today if she’d been given better care by Manchester Mental Health Trust,” Rebecca said outside court, after the coroner gave his conclusion.
Dave described the disbelief and anger as difficult to put into words. “We need more funding for mental health services, more staff, better training and much better oversight.”
Immy Swithern was a patient at the same time as Cerys. They became close friends. She says they tried to make the best out of a bad situation and would talk all day.
She also claims some staff regularly failed to carry out 15-minute safety checks, so they tried to look out for each other.
“I was there to get better, and I was there to have help with that,” she says. “Instead, I was constantly checking on people. On that ward, I think that is the most scared I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Park House mental health unit has since closed. It was replaced by a new £105.9m hospital in November 2024.
The NHS trust said it had “significantly improved” its provision of care and it was grateful to the coroner for “acknowledging the work that has been done to prevent something of this nature from happening again”.
But campaigners claim mental health services in Manchester are in crisis.
Responding to Tuesday’s inquest verdict, the Communities for Holistic, Accessible and Rights-based Mental Health (CHARM) group, says: “It is devastating to hear of yet another young person losing their life as a result of neglect and poor care.”
The group says it is due to meet Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham this week to call for a statutory inquiry into the deaths and the financial crisis in the city’s mental health services.
In October 2022, five months after Cerys death, an undercover BBC panorama programme exposed bullying and the mistreatment of patients at the medium secure Edenfield centre, which was also run by GMMH.
As a result, an independent review was commissioned by the NHS and published in 2024.
It found a “closed culture” at GMMH. It also raised concerns about the number of deaths by ligature.
In 2022, 19 people took their own lives by hanging on mental health units in the UK, five were GMMH patients, the trust itself said that meant it had 26% of all such deaths in the whole country.
If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support in the UK are available at BBC Action Line.
THREE people have been arrested for murder after a woman’s body was tragically found in a canal.
The body was discovered before two waterways were drained by police in a canal in the Black Country on Tuesday, October 7.
Cops have now arrested two men and one woman in relation to the incident.
The trio, who are aged in their 20s, 40s, and 60s, currently remain in custody.
This comes after police responded to calls from Ryders Green Road in West Bromwich just before 11am on Tuesday.
Locals reported that part of the canal was drained while police worked in the area.
A large stretch of Walsall Canal was cordoned off and a blue forensic tent was also erected.
Two sections of the canal were drained while officers investigated the scene.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said: “Three people are in custody today after a woman’s body was found in water near Ryders Green Road, West Bromwich yesterday morning.
“Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder as detectives continue with investigations into her death.
“Door-to-door enquiries are ongoing along with CCTV being retrieved and reviewed as we work to establish the exact circumstances.
“There will also be a more visible police presence in the area over the coming days as the investigation continues.
Murder cops called in after grim remains found washed up on banks of Loch Lomond
“The two men, one in his 60s and the second in his 20s, and a woman in her 40s, remain in police custody this afternoon.
“A forensic post mortem is being carried out to help establish the cause of death.”
Residents have been quick to share their devastation over this tragic discovery.
Taking to Facebook, one saddened local wrote: “R.I.P. and condolences to the family.”
Another added: “So sad rest in peace.”
The police statement continued: “Anyone with information can contact us on 101 or by messaging us on Live Chat on our website, quoting log 1587 of 7 October.
“If you’d prefer to remain anonymous please speak to independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
The first time they came for her, in May 2023, Lubabatu Ibrahim was preparing to sleep. Terrorists broke into her home in Gana village, Zamfara State, North West Nigeria, and found her alone. Her husband, the community’s traditional ruler, was away in Mecca for the Islamic pilgrimage.
“They didn’t beat me, but they asked for money, and I told them I had none,” the 46-year-old recounted.
That night, she narrowly escaped abduction. But the terrorists did not forget her, as they were acting under the instruction of their leader, Kachalla Falando.
For years, Nigeria’s North West has been at the centre of the country’s kidnapping crisis, where armed groups prey on rural communities, abducting residents for ransom and forcing thousands to abandon their homes. Women like Lubabatu, married to a local monarch, are prime targets, not only because of their symbolic status but also because of the assumption that their families can raise huge sums. Her story reflects a broader reality in which ordinary life has been eroded by fear, extortion, and the absence of state protection.
Her escape did not end the threat; it only delayed it.
Months later, in June 2024, they returned, this time seizing her only son, 15-year-old Bilyaminu, the very day he came home from boarding school.
“I missed Bilyaminu. It was his first time away from home for secondary education,” she said. “We were jubilating for Bilyaminu’s long-awaited return home as he reunited with his family and siblings from the school he had dreamed of attending,” she said. “As a mother with only one boy, I prepared so much for him and his friends during the festive period. I got him a lot of confectionery and his favourite local dishes, which he had missed.”
That evening, after a warm reunion, he came to her room to say goodnight. He sat by her legs as she patted his head. “Why have you let your hair grow so much?” she teased. He laughed and promised to cut it the next day.
But at about 1:30 a.m., terrorists stormed the village. They demanded to know the whereabouts of the matan maigari—the monarch’s wife.
“I immediately smuggled her out of her room into one of our local silos meant for preserving our assorted grains in the backyard. Only for me to return, I heard Bilyaminu crying in the hands of the terrorists. They were beating him to find out where Lubabatu, his mother, was hiding. Bilyaminu replied that he had no idea where his mother was,” Sani Maigari, the village head of the Gana community, told HumAngle.
The boy insisted he had just returned from school and did not know. His pleas were ignored. He was taken away, along with other villagers. Houses were set ablaze, including that of the community’s Imam.
After four months in captivity, Bilyaminu was released when a ransom of ₦1.5 million was paid. By then, many residents had fled their homes.
“There was no security official to rescue the victims,” Sani added. “We are all displaced. As I speak, we do not sleep in our homes. We spend our daytime in Gana and our night in Nasarawar Burkullu. We have been in transit daily since Jan. 6.”
Months after Bilyaminu was released, on Monday, Jan. 6, the terrorists invaded again. It was raining heavily when three armed men broke into the monarch’s house at about 11:00 p.m. This time, they mistook the monarch’s sick second wife, Sadiya, for Lubabatu.
“They forced me to place Sadiya on the bike,” Lubabatu recounted. “She was sick with a stroke. So they tried to load her onto the bike several times, unsuccessfully. One of the terrorists instructed me to hold her legs for him, as he held her by the arm and shifted the sick woman beside a tree, fearing that she could die.”
Residents of the Gana community narrating their ordeal at the hands of terrorists in Bukuyum LGA, Zamfara State. Photo: Abdullahi Abubakar/HumAngle.
When it became clear she could not be taken, Lubabatu recalled that one of the attackers declared, “Since we can’t abduct the sick woman, Lubabatu. We will take her instead.”
This time, they had their real target, but they were unaware.
Alongside more than 50 women and children, Lubabatu was marched through the night to Rijiyar Yarbugaje, on the outskirts of Gana. She overheard teenage fighters arguing about whether they had truly captured her. One insisted they had failed; another said they had already taken someone from her household.
The journey into captivity was brutal. The terrorists led the captives into the forest up to the Kaiwaye riverbank. “We all stopped there. Another fear of the unknown knocked on my heart, and I felt too sad again and again, as all hope was lost. I looked at the river, looked back, and I prayed to God again,” said Jamila Rabiu, another victim of the same attack.
“We trekked through that night until the following day. We neither ate food nor drank water throughout the movements across the forests. We finally reached our destination and stayed there until ₦6 million was paid as ransom for the five of us only,” Lubabatu told HumAngle.
Two days after they arrived at the camp, Kachalla Falando summoned five women among the captives from Gana and asked who among them was Lubabatu. They claimed she had escaped in the forest.
He nodded in dismay, unaware that the woman he sought was among them.
“I was the youngest among the captives. Falando walked toward me and whispered, ‘I love you.’ My chest and heart beat excessively. He asked the rest of the women to go back to the tents. I asked him to fear God and let me go with the rest,” Lubabatu said.
Falando ordered his gang to chain her. She spent three days in chains, exposed to sunshine, and only given a cup of water twice every day.
“I tried to understand why they wanted me abducted, specifically as a wife to the family of the Gana District Head. The only explanation I could arrive at was that Falando is an ambitious terrorist, driven by a desire to expand his territorial influence over communities he labelled as non-compliant,” Lubabatu said.
HumAngle learnt from locals that Gana, unlike neighbouring Gando and Baruba, was among the few villages in Bukuyum LGA whose leaders had refused to submit to the terrorists’ impunity, including the sexual abuse of women.
Lubabatu remained in captivity for two months and ten days until a ₦6 million ransom was paid.
She confirmed to HumAngle that neither Falando nor his gang realised that she was in their custody. “None of the women that we were abducted together disclosed my identity to the terrorists, despite the intimidation, abuse and violent actions against almost every one of us,” Lubabatu said.
Falando is a notorious kingpin in Nigeria’s North West. Locals familiar with his group estimate its strength at about 200 fighters. Beyond terrorising communities, they extort from them, sometimes under the guise of peace. On several occasions, Falando has compelled rural populations to pool resources for so-called “ransom-for-peace” agreements. But these deals rarely last. In Adabka, a farming settlement in Zamfara, residents raised and paid ₦20 million in the hope of buying safety. Three years later, Falando’s gang struck again, abducting and killing residents and security operatives.
The shadow Falando casts stretches across communities like Gana, where Lubabatu was seized. The village had long been under siege. Residents say the first major attack was recorded six years ago, when armed groups began their incursions into the community, which has led to assaults that have battered families.
Since she returned, fear and trauma have become Lubabatu’s worst nightmare. “The sounds of guns knocking on my ears are always my greatest fear. Anytime I hear the reverberation of gun sounds, I get tensed,” she said. “We look like wanderers, always on the move, so restless. My son is no longer in school because we are paupers and cannot afford to sponsor his education.”
Her voice carried both exhaustion and resolve. What she wanted, she said, was simple: safety, food for her family, and financial support to rebuild their lives. But until the government breaks the grip of men like Falando, residents, especially women like Lubabatu, will remain trapped by fear, their lives suspended between survival and despair.
Packing for a weekend getaway can be a struggle when you’re trying to keep costs low – but one woman has shared a simple trick to avoid paying cabin bag fees
06:30, 28 Jun 2025Updated 10:20, 28 Jun 2025
Major airlines are cracking down on luggage allowances
We all want to score the best deals when jetting off to soak up some sun abroad.
But with major airlines cracking down on luggage allowances, packing for a quick weekend getaway has become tricky — and often expensive — especially when you’re trying to keep costs low.
Luckily, one savvy traveller has shared a clever hack that lets you avoid paying for a cabin or underseat bag altogether.
If you’ve already visited far-flung places like Australia or South America, chances are you might already own the perfect item for this trick.
Instead of splashing out on an extra carry-on, TikToker Nina Edwine showed how much you can actually fit inside an empty travel pillow cover.
A holiday-goer shares easy trick for flying without having to fork out for cabin baggage
Not only does this keep your clothes safe, but the packed pillow also doubles as a comfy cushion for those long flights. Don’t be fooled by its small size — Nina stuffed the pillow with plenty of clothes.
In her video, the German traveller unpacks a non-padded bra, a strappy dress, multiple tops, a stunning red co-ord, and more — totalling ten pieces of clothing.
She revealed that this stash was enough to put together “more than six” different outfits.
Proud of her budget-friendly hack, Nina said: “Smart trick to avoid paying 50 euros (£42) for cabin luggage.”
While some airlines allow a small free cabin bag, their size restrictions often aren’t enough — making this hack a game-changer.
The clip has gone viral, racking up over 2.6 million views on TikTok, with more than 75,000 likes and nearly 1,900 comments.
“This is actually genius, for real,” one user commented, liked over 4,100 times.
Another was amazed: “Wait, you fit so much stuff in there!”
The trick saved Nina £50
A third said: “Legendary… how have I never thought of this?”
And one more chimed in: “Love doing this — it saves so much space.”
One fashion-savvy viewer added: “One of those Uniqlo crossbody bags fits loads. Wear it under your coat with a scarf to hide the strap.”
Maddie revealed she had signed up for a service called Neighbour Free when she flew with Etihad. In a video posted to her social media platforms, she explained: “I bid on the seats next to me on the plane, and if the flight isn’t completely full when I board, I get the whole row to myself. It’s basically like Business Class in Economy. I can lie down, sleep, all that.”
The content creator was “excited” to discover she had “won” the seats, meaning she had the entire row to herself. Maddie managed to sleep for eight of the 13.5-hour long-haul flight.
When asked how much this luxury had cost her, Maddie revealed in the comments section of her video that she had paid £200 to upgrade to three seats. In response to a suggestion that it might have been cheaper to upgrade to Business Class, she retorted: “Business Class upgrade would have cost £1,900++.”
