THE family of a teenage whose death following police custody prompted a law change will seek answers today when an inquest begins in Stockport.

The tragic case of Kesia Leatherbarrow in 2013 blew the lid on the routine use of station cells to lock up minors.

A successful campaign led by mother Martina Brincat Baines brought about a legal ban on police custody for 17-year-olds.

But her own daughter’s story has still not been officially probed.

Ms Baines said yesterday that her family remained “devastated” by Kesia’s death.

“We hope that the inquest will provide some answers to allow us to come to terms with this terrible tragedy.”

Young Kesia, who had a background of mental health problems, was found dead in a friend’s garden in November 2013, two days after her release from a police cell and hours before she was due to appear in court.

She had been held in a cell for a whole weekend after being arrested trying to enter a residential care home through a window.

Campaign group Inquest said Kesia had become “very distressed” in detention, banging her head against the wall and threatening suicide — but did not have a mental health assessment.

Co-director Deborah Coles said: “This is a very troubling death of a vulnerable child who should never have been locked up in a police cell.

“This inquest must ensure the most robust scrutiny of all those with responsibility for Kesia’s treatment and care to expose any failings and ensure that no other family has to lose a child in these disturbing circumstances.”