A DISTRAUGHT York couple called today for prison service reforms after an inquest jury decided their son hanged himself at a young offenders' institution.

David and Irene Edwards say they want to help other parents avoid going through what they have suffered since their son Kirk's death at Wetherby Young Offenders Institution in May last year.

The Edwards family, of Lucas Avenue, Clifton, claim there should be better suicide awareness policies so that youngsters at risk of killing themselves are spotted and steps taken to protect them.

And they believe simple measures, such as banning trainers with long laces - which Kirk used to make a ligature around his neck - could also help cut the toll of suicides in Britain's prisons.

"Lessons have got to be learnt from this," said Mr Edwards, who pointed out that another youngster at Wetherby had recently been found hanging in his cell. "Wetherby's suicide awareness policies weren't worth the paper they were written on.

"I still think my son should have been punished for his crimes, but not with his life."

The inquest at Harrogate heard how Kirk, 17, who had learning difficulties, was found by a fellow inmate hanging from a window hinge by his laces two days after he was sent to the institution by Selby Youth Court for a series of offences. The fellow inmate said he had seemed "ok" earlier that day.

Officers told how they freed Kirk's neck from the ligature and then attempted to resuscitate him. But he died in hospital several days later.

A nurse and a prison officer said Kirk had been upset when he was assessed on arrival at Wetherby because his parents were ill. He told them he taken an overdose previously but then said it had been accidental. They felt he had given no indications he intended taking his own life.

A governor from Armley Jail, Lynne Costello, who conducted a Prison Service inquiry into Kirk's death, said she had concluded that staff at Wetherby had complied fully with national policies on matters such as suicide awareness.

But she had recommended Wetherby consider introducing a "listener" or "buddy" scheme, under which inmates could be trained to listen to the problems of others at the institution.

After the jury returned a verdict of suicide, a Prison Service representative extended his sympathy and condolences to Kirk's devastated parents.