Beaten, sedated and locked up with criminals... my son has been utterly failed by the system
WHEN she thinks back to her son’s childhood, Tracey Gibbon remembers a time of laughter and love. As a little boy, Kyle was cheerful and polite, always wished passers-by a good day and complimented ladies on their dresses. Adoring of his siblings, as a youngster, Kyle would follow his older sister when she went to meet friends and helped bake cakes with his little brother. But such happy memories now seem impossibly remote. Aged 31, Kyle has now been detained at Scotland’s most dangerous maximum security psychiatric hospital for the past nine years.
Although he is surrounded by rapists and killers, Kyle’s only ‘crime’ is to have been born with autism and other complex needs.
Since he was 18, Kyle has spent his days at secure institutions after he was sectioned under mental health laws without his family’s knowledge.
In a deeply troubling case, Kyle’s mother claims he has been beaten, bullied, locked in solitary confinement, forcibly sedated with potent drugs and often restrained.
One scuffle saw his arm broken in four places when he was restrained, requiring the insertion of 45 staples and two metal plates.
By day, he fears altercations with disturbed rapists. At night, he is kept awake by patients banging their heads against cell windows.
Heartbroken and desperate, Kyle’s mother, Tracey Gibbon, has written to several MSPs in a bid to secure his release – and told the Scottish Mail on Sunday of her torment at losing her son and why she blames herself for his incarceration.
She said: ‘He should have had a life but he’s just been dropped at Carstairs. I know he’s 31, but he’s still my son. He never did anything wrong, he’s not a monster.
‘I put the noose around his neck when I took him to that first assessment. I have to live with that for the rest of my life.’
MISS Gibbon, who used to work as a caterer on offshore oil rigs, added: ‘Many times I dream I could just walk out that gate with him and get a passport and disappear somewhere where no one could touch us anymore.’
In a family full of girls, Kyle was a much-longed-for baby boy.
He had a difficult birth on August 20, 1987, with a protracted labour at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. By the age of two, his mother realised he was missing key milestones in movement and speech.
In the broadest terms, doctors diagnosed Kyle as having ‘complex needs’ – a term that includes autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Despite his difficulties, Kyle had a happy childhood in Kemnay near Aberdeen.
Miss Gibbon said: ‘He was just a normal child. He was a bit mischievous – he did silly things when he was little but it wasn’t malicious, he was just intrigued by the world.’
One caper saw him, aged six, ‘drive’ himself to a local pub in a mini battery-powered Jeep truck to see his auntie who worked there.
Kyle’s wanderlust, now thought to have been a symptom of ADHD, meant he struggled to hold down school places because his teachers said he was disruptive.
He finally found peace and thrived at a specialist residential school in Cumbria during his teenage years, routinely taking flights there on his own.
But the stress caused by leaving the school was compounded by the death of his father, Alan, and a few weeks later, the passing of his favourite teacher. When officials suggested Kyle go to an assessment and treatment unit in Dundee, his mother accepted.
She said: ‘By Kyle’s second week there, he was sobbing down the phone so I went to get him.
‘The nurse said, “You can’t take him home.” I said, “He’s my son you can’t stop me”. But she said he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and they would call the police if I removed him. I was hysterical.’
Although he was meant to stay at the privately run centre for six weeks, he was held there for two years. During that time his mother claims he was repeatedly beaten and violently restrained.
Kyle was 18 when he arrived at Monroe House. His mother said: ‘He didn’t even have a bed, no pillow, just a mattress on the floor. He was regularly assaulted by staff.’
Kyle was moved to Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen, where he was allowed to study on a catering course for two days a week at Aberdeen City College and a charity helped find him a flat.
But his excitement was shattered when a young psychiatrist said Kyle was not allowed to leave the hospital to start his new life.
Miss Gibbon said: ‘We were weeks away from moving in. I went to pick Kyle up to see his new sofa but I was told he was not
gettingout.Hewasinaside roomandhewantedtoseehismum.
‘WhenIwenttoleave,Kyle grabbedmeandsaid,“Y oucan’tleavememum”.’
‘Thestaffwerepullinghimoff me.NextthingIknowtheywere injectinghim.Theyjustsedated him,itwasdisgusting.’
SobeganalongthreemonthsforKyleatCornhill,confinedtoatinyroomwherehewasregularly sedated.MissGibbonsaid:‘They puthisfoodonthefloorlikeananimal.Thentheydidanassess - mentwhenhewasdruggedoutof hisfaceandthedoctorsaidhe triedtoassaulther .Buthehas neverbeenviolent.’
Itwasthendecidedthattheonly suitableplaceforKylewas Carstairs.MissGibbonsaid:‘I’ve beentoMSPs–IwrotetoNicola SturgeonwhenshewasHealth Minister.Igetthesamereply everytime;theydon’tgetinvolvedinindividualcases.’
Meanwhile,shesaysKylehas beenbeaten,sedatedand tormentedattheStateHospital,whichhousessomeofScotland’ smostdangerouscriminals.
Ononeoccasion,heclaims,a rapistmadehimbegforforgive - nessonhishandsandkneesfornotpassingthesugarbowlquickly enough.
Fellowpatientshaveallegedly beatenhimup,withMissGibbon believingstaffwaituntilargumentscometophysicalblowsfor theirownentertainment.Kylealso claimshesufferedotherinjuries whilebeingrestrained–including, hesays,severecarpetburns, whichliftedtheskinoffhisface.
In2016,hewastakentoW ishawGeneralHospitalwhenhisarm wastwistedbehindhisbackand brokeninfourplaces.
IN2012,Kylewroteanimpassionedpleatobesenthome afterthestressofbeing ‘decked’bystaffbecametoo much.Inalettertoofficials, hesaid:‘Igetangryandfrustrated.Idon’ twanttobein thishospital. ‘Ifighttherestraint,whenI’mdeckedIthinkI’mgoingtodie,I can’tbreathe,Ihatebeingdecked. ThisweekIhavebeenattackedtwotimesbyapatientintheward.Idon’tfeelsafe.’
AspokesmanfortheStateHospitalsaiditcouldnotcommenton specificpatientsorstaff.
Thespokesmansaid:‘ Allpatientsaredetainedandhaverightsof representationandappeal,includingagainstdetentionand/orexcessivesecurity ,assetoutinthe MentalHealth(CareandT reatment)( Scotland)Act2003. AppealsareheardbytheMentalHealthTribunalScotland.’
AspokesmanforNHSGrampian, representingCornhillHospital, saidacomplaintfromthefamily hadbeenresolved.
Whiletheauthoritiesinsistthat properprotocolsandsafeguards areinplace,forKyle,lifestands still.Accordingtohismother,heisnotallowedtogooutsidebecause heisconsideredtoovulnerable.
Instead,hespendshisdays watchingtelevision,orinhisroom.Hismothersayshemustsounda buzzerifheneedsanything,from thetoilettoaglassofwater.
Hisonlycomfortisatenminute phonecallonceaday .Hismother said:‘Whenthestaffaren’ tlisteningIsingtohim:“Y ouaremy sunshine,myonlysunshine,youmakemehappywhenskiesare grey.”
‘Hesays:“Pleasesingthatsongtomemum,pleasesingthatsong.”
‘IdobecauseI’veneverstopped,andI’llneverstop,beingamothertohim.’