Mother uses phone tracker before learning teen son died after college exclusion
Ruth Grierson says she used the Find My iPhone app to locate her son Henry, 17, only to discover he had taken his own life three days after being permanently excluded from Huddersfield New College.
Henry Grierson, a 17-year-old from Rastrick, West Yorkshire, was diagnosed with ADHD at nine and later stopped his medication, turning to illegal substances. In April 2024 Huddersfield New College permanently excluded him following an altercation, informing his family by email while he was away. Three days later, his parents used the Find My iPhone app to track his location, but police told them he had died by suicide.
An inquest in October 2024 found the college lacked up-to-date health information and that communication with CAMHS and the addiction charity Recovery Steps had broken down. Coroner Angela Brocklehurst issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report urging better information sharing. Ruth Grierson responded by establishing The Henry Grierson ADHD & Mental Health Foundation, training as a specialist ADHD coach, and launching a pilot coaching program in Leeds with the ADHD Coaching Agency, which includes suicide-first-aid training.
Why it matters
Shows how failures in school-health communication can increase suicide risk for vulnerable ADHD youth.
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