Mrs Scholes said Joseph said he would try and kill himself

Joseph Scholes, 16, was nine days into a two year term at Stoke Heath Young Offender's Institute, Shropshire, when he was found hanged in his cell in March 2002.

The boy's mother contacted officials when he was sentenced to say he had had made a previous attempt on his life.

An inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Friday after hearing from Joseph's family, hospital workers and institution staff.

He had told everybody concerned that he would kill himself if he received a custodial sentence Yvonne Scholes

Joseph, from Sale in Greater Manchester, was jailed for a series of mobile phone robberies and had a history of psychiatric problems and self-harm, the jury at the Shrewsbury inquest heard.

He was found hanging from a sheet which had been attached to the bars of his cell window.

The inquest was told a youth justice social worker tried to move him to a secure children's home just days before he was found hanged there, but there were no beds.

Joseph's mother, Yvonne Scholes, told the hearing that Joseph had talked to her about taking his own life in a telephone conversation just a day before he was found hanged.

Giving evidence during the two-week inquest, the 44-year-old, from Meliden, in Denbighshire, criticised the centre for not keeping better check of her son.

Speaking last year Mrs Scholes said: "He had told everybody concerned that he would kill himself if he received a custodial sentence."

"The judge knew that. He commented on it at the trial, yet he still sent him to an unsafe environment - to a certain death.

"It was nothing less than a death sentence to Joseph."

He is one of 25 young teenagers who have taken their lives in custody since 1990.