A young girl who had been placed under one-to-one supervision at a psychiatric hospital died after a "care worker" left her alone, an inquest has heard.

Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, was a patient at Huntercombe Hospital's Thames ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit in Maidenhead when the incident happened.

Szymankiewicz, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, had an eating disorder and had been in the unit since October 2021.

A jury inquest held at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court on Monday heard that ten days before her death, she was placed under strict one-to-one supervision following a self-harming incident.

However, on February 12 2022, a man then known as Ebo Acheampong, the member of staff who was responsible for watching her, failed to maintain the constant supervision plan.

The court was told it later emerged that Acheampong had been using false identity documents, and was hired by the hospital under a fake name.

Assistant coroner Ian Wade KC said Acheampong left Szymankiewicz alone for approximately 15 minutes, during which she walked around the hospital and to her room.

Shortly after she was found unconscious, having asphyxiated herself, and died at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later.

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The Home Office carried out a post-mortem examination which determined the preliminary cause of death to be a type of brain damage due to lack of oxygen called "hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy".

Discussing Acheampong's documents and qualifications, the coroner told jurors: "The evidence showed he had been employed through an agency (Platinum), who checked his identity documents, and they even trained him by putting him through a day-and-a-half course.

"It appears that these particular processes were the norm and were sufficient to enable a hospital to employ this person.

"But on February 12, he did not keep Ruth under a constant watch.

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"Some time around 8pm in the evening, this man ended his shift without knowing where she was and without making sure that he handed her over to another member of staff to continue the one-to-one care regime.

"He simply left."

Jurors were told Acheampong never returned to the hospital, instead fleeing to Ghana, where he is thought to originally be from.

Wade suggested: "It seems that he learned what happened that evening."

He continued: "You will not hear from that man, and he let Ruth down."

The court was also told that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had inspected Huntercombe Hospital twice prior to the incident.

The inquest heard: "The CQC had not reported favourably on Huntercombe."

Active Care Group, which owned the hospital at the time of Szymankiewicz's death, has since closed the facility.

Having originally been cared for at Salisbury Hospital, Szymankiewicz was transferred to Huntercombe Hospital which was a two-hour drive away from the home of her parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz.

Her mother, a GP, said the process explaining why her daughter needed to be moved was "opaque" and "incredibly difficult to navigate".

Her parents paid tribute to her, saying she had a "fiery, determined" personality and a "huge heart".

They added she "was and still is deeply loved" and that her death "shattered" them.

The inquest is being held at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield and is expected to last for about two weeks.