Report to investigate how autistic man who died in Bedford was failed by adult services

A report into the death of a young man in Bedford is set to ask how he was failed by adult services agencies in Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire.

Bedford Borough Council’s Executive heard on Friday (September 23) that the report is due next week.

Safeguarding Adults Board Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire chair, Terry Rich, said: “[The] young autistic young man grew up in Central Bedfordshire, [and] was supported by their children’s services.

“But [he] then found himself moving from a highly supported environment into a flat on his own in Bedford.

“Where, in retrospect, all professionals say they could see the train crash that was going to happen,” he said.

“We will be having that report to our board on Monday week, and I anticipate that there will be some real serious challenges to all partner agencies in terms of, how could it be that that young person was failed in that way?

“And I’d really encourage members to take a keen interest in the safeguarding of young vulnerable people as they move from Children’s to Adult Services.

“Particularly being aware that boundaries don’t particularly matter, and disagreements between agents, between neighbouring authorities, about who’s responsible today, may have tragic consequences,” he said.

Bedford mayor, Dave Hodgson, said: “One of the key things we’ve got to do is the learning and partnership working and to show that this council, I’m sure all agencies, but we’re particularly responsible for ourselves here, will make sure we do all we can to learn from any case.

“The important thing is to attempt to never make the same mistake twice if possible.

“I think it’s a utopian world to make no mistakes, but that would be our aim to try to do that, but it’s always to learn,” he said.

The safeguarding of those in adult services in the Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire areas is coordinated by the independent Safeguarding Adults Board.

Its role is to promote the safety of adults by “developing robust multi-agency systems for the prevention and investigation of the abuse of adults”.