March 1996
Child hangs himself after social workers were unable to offer him counselling because of fears of prejudicing sex offender’s trial
13 year old boy at the centre of an abuse case hanged himself from a door with a guitar strap after social workers were unable to offer him counselling because of fears of prejudicing a sex offender’s trial
Declan Curran’s mother, a York City councillor, told the inquest into his death yesterday, that after an investigation for assault committed against him got underway, social workers said no counselling or therapy could be offered because it would contaminate the evidence.
Declan Curran, 13, was found hanging at his home in York the day after he saw sex offender David Fisher then on bail in a nearby street. Six weeks later Fisher was jailed for four years at York Crown Court for assaults on three other boys.
His mother Anne Curran, 43, said ” I think Declan would be alive today if they had given him the help he asked for. He was desperate to talk to someone. But social workers said there was no possibility of discussing the abuse before the trial. They did not want to contaminate the evidence.”
North Yorkshire social services director Rosemary Archer said social services were bound by national rules. There had been concerned about the present policy and they were still awaiting national guidelines
The coroner recorded an open verdict saying he was not satisfied that Declan had intended to take his own life and it might have been a cry for help.
Film tribute to Declan
His brother’s tragic death has led a young York director to make a film with a message of hope. He spoke candidly to CHRIS TITLEY about a difficult past and a mission for the future
TUESDAY, June 6, 1995: a day etched so deeply into Kevin Curran’s consciousness that he can recall every detail as if it happened moments before. “I woke up in the morning to a scream. I ran downstairs. My mum was screaming. I walked into the front room. He was hanging in the doorway from a guitar strap.” He hesitates. “It was just surreal, completely surreal.”
Desperate attempts were made to save Declan Curran, Kevin’s 13-year-old brother. “I remember a man came into our house who I have never seen before or since, and he tried to help my brother,” he said. It was no use. Declan had been dead for six hours.
“The most hard thing was standing outside and watching them zip the black bag over his face.”
Declan took his own life shortly before he was due to give evidence in a sexual abuse trial. The case had taken a long time to get to court as the defendant had pleaded not guilty. Declan was facing the ordeal of the witness box. Kevin had also been abused, and he said his brother “took his own life which meant we didn’t have to go through with it”.
The system let them down, Kevin said. “When we were going through it, it seemed like the abuser was protected. It seemed like my little brother couldn’t talk about it.
“They wouldn’t let him, because it would contaminate the court evidence.”
After a flirtation with drugs, it took the support of family, friends and the Church for Kevin to finally come to terms with what happened that day. Now he is determined to make the most of his life.
Kevin’s is an inspiring story of hope triumphing over despair. Born the fifth of nine brothers and sisters, to former city councillor Anne Curran and her husband Ken, he spent much of his childhood living in Wilberforce Avenue, Clifton.
“It was really rough,” he recalled. “I didn’t like it. We got quite a lot of stick when we first moved there.
“My mum and dad were Irish and there was a bit of a stigma attached to that.
“I went to All Saints School, quite a middle class, Catholic school. I got quite a lot of abuse there because of my social status. I didn’t really fit in.
“Then there was quite a lot of bullying. I got beaten up a couple of times. It was an unhappy time for me. I didn’t really know who I was or what I was doing.
“People say it’s lonely being the only child. But even with all these brothers and sisters around and so much going on, you can be lonely. You don’t know what to do or where to go.”
Kevin is totally honest about his relationship with Declan. “He was very different. Because I was two years older than him, I used to fight quite a lot with him. We were at that age when brothers and sisters fight.
“I went through quite a hard time after what happened, because of all the guilt feelings. But I know he knew I loved him.”
Declan, he said, “had a more calm and kind nature than anyone else. We were a little bit more wild. It wasn’t the best of relationships. But that’s one of the things, when you lose someone, it makes you realise how important life is, and your brother’s life is.”
The man who abused Declan and Kevin, an acquaintance of their older brother, was later jailed.
After these traumas, Kevin sought an escape in drugs. He had a place at York College to study for a diploma in media production, but was in danger of being thrown off the course for not applying himself.
But the college authorities gave Kevin another chance. His faith was also crucial, and he enjoyed more support from members of the Church of the Redeemer in Clifton.
Now he has turned his life around, is drug-free and is studying for a BA honours degree in photo media at the Plymouth College of Art and Design.
Kevin has just finished casting his film, Inner Sense, to be shot in Plymouth. Although the film is rooted in Kevin’s experiences and dedicated to Declan, it is not their life story.
“My brother obviously gave up on life because of sexual abuse and the way the system dealt with that.
“I didn’t feel at this stage in my life I was ready to deal with that, but it is definitely something I want to tackle.”
Instead, it tells the story of Andy, a child who is physically abused by his father and brought up on a socially deprived estate. Thanks to the support of his mates and his own observations of the better lives enjoyed by others, a despairing Andy realises that he can go on. The film closes with him as a school head teacher, helping another boy to cope with emotions of pain and anger he readily recognises.
Through Andy’s journey from isolation and despair to self-belief and hope, Inner Sense explores how it is possible to overcome the worst life can offer to find something better.
Inner Sense has the support of The Samaritans. The organisation is desperate to let young men know there is a way out of their anguish before it’s too late: the suicide rate for young men has doubled since the early Eighties and a parliamentary committee was set up this week to investigate the scale of the tragedy.
Kevin and his “hugely talented” team need more support to fund the film, however. If anyone can help sponsor such a worthwhile project, they can contact him via the numbers at the end of this article.
“The film is a cry out to say: ‘Don’t give up’,” Kevin says. And he has an almost evangelical zeal for putting this message across.
“I just really feel that I am here for a purpose, I have been given experience that I should share with other people.”
Declan isn’t Kevin’s only loss: a good boyhood friend from Clifton also died tragically young, of a methadone overdose, he said. “It just makes you think: they have gone, they had nowhere to turn.”
His film will be premiered at a Plymouth cinema before being shown at film festivals. Kevin also hopes it will gain wider distribution so many more teenagers get to see it. This will be, he hopes, the start of a career making films dealing with “issues that matter”.
Kevin believes he will see his younger brother again. And he hopes Declan appreciates what he’s trying to do.
“I just hope that he would see that I really didn’t want him to go away. We wanted him to go on and try to struggle through it.
“It’s taken Declan to go away to realise how important my family, my friends really are.”
