Runnin On Empty

Imagine discovering that, while you were fighting for answers about your son’s death, a government minister was discussing how to isolate you. That is what happened to me. In 2024, I was shown WhatsApp messages reportedly sent by Nadine Dorries to Matt Hancock while I was campaigning for a statutory public inquiry into mental-health deaths in Essex. One message read: “We aren’t going there… I’m picking off the other families and speaking to them one by one to get them on side to isolate her.” I was “her”. I was a bereaved mother asking the Government to investigate how my 20-year-old son, Matthew Leahy, died while detained in an NHS mental-health unit. During the parliamentary debate on 30 November 2020, Nadine Dorries also stated that Matthew had taken his own life. Barbara Keeley MP immediately challenged this because Matthew’s inquest returned an open narrative verdict and I did not accept that account. Hansard was later formally corrected to say that Matthew “died by hanging while he was in the care of the NHS”. After more than 105,000 people supported my petition, the Government established only a non-statutory inquiry—without the power to compel witnesses to give evidence. It eventually became unworkable because of poor staff cooperation and was not converted into a statutory inquiry until 2023. No bereaved mother seeking the truth should ever be viewed as someone to be isolated, managed or silenced. I was not the problem. I was exposing the problem. I am still here. I am still asking questions. And I will continue fighting for truth, accountability and safer mental-health services. For Matthew—and for every family who deserves answers. #MatthewsCampaign #LampardInquiry #MentalHealthReform #PatientSafety #Accountability #JusticeForMatthew