The Coroner of Inquests is to write to government ministers recommending they ensure that suitable accommodation is available to young people leaving care or custody.

This follows the death of Morgan John Ritchie, who was aged just 18 at the time of his death from a heroin overdose on January 9, 2022.

Mr Ritchie’s death came less than a month after his release from custody on December 15.

At the time, Mr Ritchie was living with his friend Ben and Ben’s family, as he had nowhere else to go and he was unable to live with either of his parents.

His allocated social worker, Kirsty Morphet, told the inquest that for people such as Mr Ritchie, who had spent most of his young life in care, there is no halfway house when leaving care.

Mrs Hughes did note that she found given his history of rebelling, it is ‘unlikely that he would have cooperated or settled into such a setting’.

The Coroner also praised Ms Morphet saying that she and her colleagues ‘did all they could for him’.

This included options of rehabilitation in the UK, but Mr Ritchie rejected this offer.

During her evidence, Ms Morphet highlighted the lack of available accommodation for young people, both those who have been in care and those who haven’t.

Mrs Hughes said: ‘In Morgan’s case, he was not able to reside with his parents, both of whom live on the Isle of Man, although there is aftercare support available to those young people leaving care, the aftercare team were unable to secure accommodation for Morgan because of his previous behaviours.

‘I accept Ms Morphet’s evidence that landlords of bedsit accommodation are reluctant to offer accommodation to young people particularly those such as Morgan with a troubled background.

‘Apart from relying on the goodwill of friends such as, in Morgan’s case, Ben and his mother, the only other option is the charity Graih. It is undoubtedly an unsatisfactory situation.’

Mrs Hughes said that while Mr Ritchie could be difficult, he was vulnerable to being exploited.

She said that she had ‘no doubt’ that some of the debts he had at the time of his death came ‘in some way from drug misuse or trafficking’.

She added: ‘I am satisfied that the lack of safe accommodation for vulnerable young people on the Isle of Man played a role in Morgan’s death.

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‘Ms Morphet is to be commended for her efforts in supporting Morgan to secure accommodation and benefits, on occasion buying him food and a mobile phone so that he could keep in touch with the professionals involved in his care, but such things should not be left to the goodwill of individuals.

‘I will refer Morgan’s death to the Minister for the Department of Health and Social Care and the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs with a recommendation that they take whatever action they consider appropriate to ensure that suitable and safe accommodation is available to young people when they leave care or custody or otherwise find themselves homeless.’

In her report, Mrs Hughes found that, while a regular cannabis smoker, there was no definitive evidence that Mr Ritchie was a regular user of heroin.

Mrs Hughes added: ‘I find, on balance, that at the time of his death, Morgan was not a habitual user of heroin.

‘I find that for whatever reason he used heroin in the period up until his death, he had a significant concentration of heroin in his blood and urine within the range according to Ms Reed which has proved fatal in other cases.’

She ruled that his death was a result of non-dependent abuse of drugs namely opiate toxicity due to the combined use of heroin with diazepam.