THE head of the country's youth justice service is to meet face to face with the parents of tragic Burnley youngster Adam Rickwood.

Chief executive of the Youth Justice Board for England Wales, Ellie Roy, will travel to Burnley next week to talk with Carol and John Pounder. No date has yet been set for the meeting.

The board, a public body which aims to reduce youth offending, has launched a full investigation into Adam's death at the Hassockfield Centre, in Consett, County Durham, last week.

Mr and Mrs Pounder have already called for the centre to be closed down and demanded to know why their son had not been on suicide watch after he had threatened to kill himself.

A spokesman for the Youth Justice Board said: "Mrs Roy is certainly intending to go up to Burnley next week to meet with the Pounders, although exactly when it will be has not been decided yet."

Adam, 14, of Harold Street, became the youngest person in the country to die while in custody after he was found hanging in his room at the Hassockfield at around midnight last Monday.

He had been sent to the privately-run secure training unit by the courts after allegedly breaching bail accused of a wounding offence. There were no suspicious circumstances.

But pressure groups - such as Inquest, which investigates custody deaths, and the Howard League for Penal Reform - have backed the family's call for a public inquiry.

An inquest into the death was opened and adjourned last week and Adam's funeral was on Wednesday.