THE Burnley mum of the youngest person to die in custody in Britain is still facing an agonising wait for answers one year on.

Tragic Adam Rickwood, of Harold Street, committed suicide in Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in Durham last August aged just 14. But today his mum Carol Pounder said she was still no closer to knowing why her son died.

An inquest date has not been set and Mrs Pounder said she has been told it could be another two years away. And the Youth Justice Board has revealed it cannot complete its investigations until the coroner hears the case. The Youth Justice Board's final report will try to prevent further deaths of young people in custody.

Mrs Pounder said: "I'm no wiser today than I was 12 months ago. I had a knock on the door to say he was dead and that was it.

"I haven't heard anything whatsoever and we've been told the inquest will be another two years. It's disgusting. It will be three years until we get any answers.

"Your life's just not the same when you've lost your son but when you've no inkling as to why it happened or what happened it's terrible. They say they will learn lessons but 28 boys to have died in custody since 1990 - lessons should have been learned already."

Adam was found hanging in his cell and was pronounced dead at Durham's University Hospital. He had been on remand for one month after allegedly breaching bail while accused of a wounding offence.

Today, a spokesman for Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle confirmed no date for the inquest had been set as investigations were continuing. And the Youth Justice Board said it was still trying to co-ordinate the various investigations following Adam's death.

A spokesman for the board said: "Our report will feed into the local area child protection review but unfortunately we cannot finalise our serious incident review until an inquest has taken place. We can produce an interim review which we have passed on to the protection committee. These sorts of cases involve several different investigations and we've tried to co-ordinate them so our report will feed into theirs. But things can't progress any further until the coroner's inquest."

Mrs Pounder has been backed in her fight for answers by pressure group Inquest which recently published a book detailing child deaths in custody and calls for an independent standing commission on custodial deaths and an end to locking up children.

Deborah Coles, co-director of the organisation Inquest, said: "Deaths of children in the custody of the state are a serious human rights issue."