Young boy's death wish terrifies mother and has experts baffled

Elliott McGahey, 10, has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism which generally affects social abilities, but in his case has resulted in a death wish that has baffled experts.

As well as self-harming and attacking relatives, Elliott tried to throw himself in front of a car outside his school, and was only saved in another suicide attempt when his mother grabbed his feet as he jumped out of his bedroom window.

The youngster has been prescribed an assortment of medication including anti-depressants, anti-psychotic drugs and tablets to help him sleep.

But his parents say they are at their wits' end and have criticised the NHS and education officials for not offering enough support.

His mother Kasha Bennett, 28, of Hull, said: "Not a day goes by when I don't cry because it's heartbreaking. To hear my son say he wants to die rips me apart every single day.

"He sees a consultant from the mental health trust every three months, but he hasn't had one-to-one support. No one is giving him any therapy or showing understanding of his condition.

"From the beginning it was hard work to get anyone to assess him properly. Then when we got him diagnosed we thought things were looking up.

"But there was support for about two weeks until he got back to school. Now it's as if we have just been left."

Elliott spent eight months at an NHS-run child and adolescent mental health unit, where he was diagnosed with Asperger's.

He was removed from St Nicholas Primary School after the incident with the car and has now missed 15 weeks of lessons.

Ms Bennett said: "He failed to understand a social situation at school, ran outside into the road and tried to get run down by a car. When I spoke to him he just said 'I don't want Asperger's, I just want to die, I want to kill myself, I want a car to knock me down'.

"We have a routine every morning where I explain to him what we have planned for the day. He'll just say 'I don't want to live, I just want to die'. It is devastating."

She has been unable to work since February as her son's condition worsened, leaving her with little option but to provide round-the-clock care.

The mother-of-three and her partner Paul McGahey, 32, are now planning to lodge a complaint with Humber NHS Foundation Trust over what they claim is a lack of support for Elliott.

She said: "I feel let down by the trust and I feel let down by education. We have been offered a limited amount of teaching support, but not enough. We have no idea when he will be able to return to that school or begin to attend another."

Dr Sandra Wheatley, a social psychologist with a special interest in family and parenting, described Elliott's case as "extremely rare".

She said: "There are incidences of young children diagnosed with autism and Asperger's. It's very rare for him to be on this amount of medication.

"Frankly, you only have to look around to see there is a world of difference between a child being very unhappy and a child being mentally unwell. As it is so rare, it means there are very few services set up to specifically help the child as an individual and the parents and carers."

A spokeswoman for Humber NHS Foundation Trust said: "Elliot's family has an allocated worker from CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) who visited them recently to discuss appropriate support.

"Allocated workers co-ordinate care by linking with consultants and other workers and with agencies like social services and education.

"They also offer therapeutic interventions such as individual therapy with the young person, family work and parenting support. We are happy to continue to offer this support to Elliot and his family and would urge his parents to contact their allocated worker so that we can carry on working together."

Symptoms can vary widely

Asperger's syndrome is a form of autism characterised by significant difficulties in social interaction and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development.

Symptoms vary from being so mild that the person can function as well as anyone else, to so severe that they are unable to take part in normal society.

Although not required for diagnosis, physical clumsiness and atypical use of language are often reported.

Children with the condition are often of average or above intelligence and may be particularly good at learning facts and figures.

The exact cause of the condition is not known.

Most treatments aim to help the individual adjust to a world which thinks or functions differently.