Mother of teenager who died in suspected 'suicide pact' tells inquest of son's mental health issues
The bodies of Jack Williams and Katherine Powell who had an infant child together, were found at Bothenhampton reservoir in January 2022
Last updated 10th Feb 2026
The mother of a teenager who died in a suspected suicide pact with his girlfriend has told an inquest into their deaths that he had made previous attempts to take his own life.
The bodies of Jack Williams, 18, and Katherine Powell, 17, who had an infant child together, were found at Bothenhampton reservoir, near Bridport, Dorset, on the morning of January 25 2022.
The Bournemouth inquest has heard that the pair had been arrested on suspicion of possession of an indecent image of a child six days earlier.
In a statement read to the court, Mr Williams' mother, Debbie Williams, said that her son was a "much-loved baby" and his birth was the "happiest day of my life".
She said she split from his father when their son was a year old and said he felt "rejected" by his father and when he was 10 years old he started to become "disruptive and answering" back.
Ms Williams said that by 2016 he showed signs of having ADHD and autism and he then took an overdose in 2017 at the age of 14 after she had moved with him from Coventry to Leamington Spa after his "behaviour and mental health began to deteriorate".
She said that she sought help from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) but described difficulties getting the support she felt he needed after he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and anxiety.
Ms Williams said that her son met Katherine at his new school, Kenilworth School, and added: "She was a school-year younger, they quickly became good friends and she would come to our house to visit him.
"I really liked Katie, she was very polite and it was lovely to see Jack smiling and laughing when he was with her.
"Despite this his behaviour continued to escalate and I would ask social services for respite but it was always refused."
Ms Williams said that her son had started taking cannabis and said she had discovered he attempted to take his own life in a nature reserve in 2018 and took another overdose in January 2019.
She said that he started to be "aggressive" towards her and added: "I would turn to social services for advice about how to deal with Jack's challenging behaviour but no-one could help, instead I felt they used any information I provided to them to blame my parenting instead of finding a way to help us."
Ms Williams said she then took the "difficult decision" for her son to be taken into foster care but she kept in contact with him and after their relationship improved she would visit him, including after he moved to West Bay in Dorset.
She said this visit in July 2021 ended up in a disagreement and added: "I decided that I wouldn't contact Jack, I would let him reach out when he was in a better place, by this point the breakdown in our relationship and his behaviour towards me was having a substantial impact on my own mental health."
Ms Williams said that she was called by police when her son and Katherine had gone missing on January 24 2022.
She added: "I was never informed there was a concern about suicide, had I known I would have advised them of the time when Jack was younger and making plans to hang himself in the nature reserve behind our house."
Ms Williams said she was visited the following day by police who told her of her son's death and added: "Being told Jack had died was the last thing I expected to hear."
The father of Mr Williams, Mark Williams, said in a statement that his son was the "apple in my eye" and said he had kept in contact with him after the breakdown in his relationship with Ms Williams.
He said that his son came to stay with him for his 16th birthday when he told him that he was smoking weed and self-harming because he was "depressed and unhappy" but added that his son refused to seek help from the GP.
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.