Teenager died after police were called to her flat

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Teenager died after police were called to her flat
As police tried to find clues as to what could have happened to Alex Duce she was inside her flat. When she was found later that day she had hanged herself and died days later in hospital
Alex Duce died aged 18 at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil
(Image: Family handout)
An 18-year-old woman died after police were called to her flat, an inquest has heard. Alex Duce died days after she'd been found by police officers on the afternoon of September 11, 2022, at her second-floor flat at Castle Street in Tredegar, Newport Coroners' Court heard on Tuesday.
Alex, a care home worker and beauty student at Ebbw Vale College who the inquest heard was a 'popular' person with 'many friends', was reported as missing in the hours before her discovery by her mother who told Gwent Police she had spoken to her daughter on video call the evening before and that her vanishing was out of character.
On Tuesday assistant coroner for Gwent Sarah Le Fevre heard from police constable Michael Lammert who explained he had attended the property alone earlier that day to a report of the missing teen. PC Lammert noted that Alex's mother had mentioned she had been struggling with her mental health and that there had been a previous self-harm incident around five weeks before.
Gwent Police made the decision at that point to categorise Alex as 'medium' risk, the inquest heard. In his notes PC Lammert recorded that Alex did not drink alcohol, didn't take drugs, and didn't pose a risk to the public.
'All that I had was that there had been a previous incident where she had taken an overdose and that there were concerns she might do it again,' PC Lammert recalled from his notes. 'There was no immediacy. If there was a clear message relaying she was contemplating suicide then that would definitely have been a higher risk.'
The inquest heard PC Lammert then attended the flat at Castle Street just before 11am on the day Alex was found. After banging on the door multiple times and also trying neighbours' doors without an answer he decided to leave the block.
PC Lammert said he spoke to a close friend of Alex's who told him she 'does this from time to time'. Asked by the coroner what he took that to mean PC Lammert said: 'To me I took that as she shuts off from people and doesn't want contact with friends and family sometimes.'
The inquest heard the incident at that point was not deemed serious enough to allow Gwent Police to use powers of entry under section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act to force entry to the property as there was not enough evidence that Alex was inside the flat.
The officer said he then returned to Ebbw Vale police station where he searched for people who might be associated with Alex and know something of her whereabouts and lifestyle. He obtained details of her foster family and a social worker who told him she had sometimes struggled to maintain connections but had no particular known condition which made her a vulnerable person.
PC Lammert said he was then taken away from the incident because of a higher-priority incident elsewhere in the region which took up some of that afternoon. But later that afternoon he was again dispatched to the Castle Street flat alongside PC Lauren Smith at around 4pm with reports a number of Alex's loved ones were gathered outside the flat and had been banging on the door.
PC Smith, as an officer trained in powers of entry and method of entry, which essentially means forcing their way into private property without permission of the owner, was tasked with assessing the situation and deciding whether to force entry.
The inquest heard it took around 52 minutes from them being dispatched to reach the property because they couldn't find the method of entry kit, which includes heavy apparatus such as a hooligan bar and an enforcer or battering ram, known among police as a red key.
PC Smith said it was common for officers to not be able to locate method of entry kits for some time which she admitted could be 'frustrating'. She said this was because at the time there was only one kit per police station.
PC Smith said on the day Alex died it had taken the officers up to 30 minutes to retrieve the kit that was needed to access her flat. Now there are more kits per station, the inquest heard.
When the officers finally managed to locate the kit which was being carried in another police vehicle they then made their way to the flat. PC Smith said when she arrived at the flat with PC Lammert she hadn't known anything regarding any previous self-harm episodes.
PC Smith told the inquest that as she began to realise more about the case the risk in her mind became higher.
She told the coroner: 'That information was never made available to me. The sense of urgency increased while I was there as I gained more information.' She said if she had known about the previous suicide risk in Alex's case she 'might have changed approach'.
When she was informed by a neighbour that footsteps and a 'loud bang' had been heard in Alex's flat that afternoon PC Smith decided to force entry to the flat just before 5pm on September 11.
Using the battering ram five times on the door the officers managed to gain entry and within seconds found Alex hanged in her room. They believed she had recently lost consciousness and began CPR while calling for backup and paramedics.
PC Ethan O'Sullivan told the inquest he then attended the scene at 5.03pm with a defibrillator and also performed CPR on Alex until paramedics arrived at the scene a short time later. Alex, who was showing signs of life, was conveyed by ambulance to the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil where she received advanced life support but her machine was switched off days later on Friday, September 16. The inquest continues.
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