Head of £30,000 school where my nephew died after after taking acne drug should be sacked: Racing legend Jenny Pitman on the death of her sister's son... aged just 16 Jack Bowlby had taken controversial acne drug Roaccutane Experienced extreme mood swings and exhibited strange behaviour Found hanged at prestigious boarding school Cheltenham College His aunt, racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman, condemns school Claims teachers were unwilling to monitor Jack despite parent's pleas Sportsman: Jack Bowlby was a skilled horseman, competing in shows at weekends The day had hardly begun when Michael Bowlby returned to Gurnsmead Farm for a set of keys. The Bowlbys" neighbours in the beautiful Oxfordshire village of Kingston Lisle were barely awake at 7.20, even if farmers like him were already at work. Yet as he arrived the phone was ringing - and with that call from their son's school his world started to collapse. Sixteen-year-old Jack was close to death. Last week the coroner's court in Gloucester heard the full troubling background to the death of Jack Bowlby - how he had taken a course of controversial acne drug Roaccutane, how a boy once known for his sunny disposition had experienced extreme mood swings and worried his parents Michael and Mandy with strange behaviour, and how, finally, he had been found with a belt around his neck in his room at a prestigious boarding school. The inquest reached an open verdict, accepting that the death is suspicious. But that has done little to calm the family's fury at those they hold responsible for failing their son. Indeed, this private tragedy has acquired a public dimension, setting Jack's distinguished aunt, the racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman, against Cheltenham College, one of the best-known schools in the country. Roaccutane has been linked with a number of teenage deaths amid claims that it can induce suicidal thinking and Jack's family want it banned. While Michael and Mandy are seeking legal advice, Jenny is forthright in her condemnation of the £33,000-a-year school and the failings highlighted by the inquest - in particular an apparent unwillingness to monitor Jack, despite his parents" pleas. Speaking from her home near Hungerford, a few miles from the Bowlbys" farm, Miss Pitman drew some frank and unflattering comparisons. As someone who has been a professional racehorse trainer, the rules are very stringent. You have to log every drug and every detail of foodstuff given to an animal, how it was administered and by whom. Yet Jack's dark thoughts weren't recorded and the day before Jack died, he'd gone to bed for several hours in the afternoon feeling unwell and no one checked on him. I find it astonishing that someone like a headmaster, whose job it is to educate and guide youngsters, did not attend an inquest. How do you analyse that? A licensed racehorse trainer is required to be responsible for their horses at all times, which is not something you can dip in and out of. Criticism: Jenny Pitman questioned why the headmaster of Cheltenham College did not attend Jack's inquest If that had been a trainer, they would be taken to task and most likely be looking for a new job by now. Jack Bowlby's life had been enviable. Popular and charismatic, he was a skilled horseman growing up in the riding-mad Vale of the White Horse. While elder brother Tom was academically gifted, Jack came home every weekend to compete in shows. Model pupil: Jack was popular, charismatic and a talented horse rider Horses are at the heart of the family's life. Jack's aunt Jenny is a former champion trainer, her sister Mandy also trained horses, and Jack's father was a successful jockey. "I was riding on very good winners for very good trainers," explains Michael, "but I possibly didn't have that single-mindedness and total focus that it takes to be a champion. But Jack had that focus. The teenage years and the pressures they bring are no respecters of conventional happiness, however. Concerned by his appearance, Jack started to take Roaccutane to clear his skin. The drug was prescribed by consultant dermatologist Dr James Milne in Cheltenham in December 2011. Dr Milne prescribed a dose of two daily 20mg capsules, which was increased to three on January 20, 2012. Just three days later, Jack told school matron Tracey Hopson he was having "dark thoughts." Although Dr Milne had advised Jack and Mrs Hopson to report any side effects immediately, she did not do so and the disclosure wasn't entered into Jack's medical notes at the school. Later, at the inquest, Jack's housemaster Simon Conner also admitted failing to record details of Jack's state of mind, or to contact doctors about it. Jack had become withdrawn and, as Michael describes it, the joy had gone out of him. Twice in the weeks before his death his father called the housemaster asking him to keep a watchful eye, but in his view those fears were ignored; certainly the calls were not logged.# Heartbroken: Grieving parents Michael and Mandy and Jack's brother Tom Bowlby at home "The fact that I had rung the school at all said something about how worried we were about Jack," says Michael. Mr Conner didn't seem able to grasp that it was his welfare I was concerned about, not his work. Michael and Mandy now wonder if they should have researched Roaccutane more thoroughly when it was prescribed. They had no idea about its potentially devastating side effects. Initially they put Jack's mood swings down to teenage emotion, but they came to find his sudden rages alarmingly out of character. "The first time it happened I asked him what his sudden outburst was all about and he told me he thought it was the pills," says Mandy. "He said, "I think they make you depressed." I said, "You'd better stop taking them" and he said he'd read up about them and it wasn't good to stop them abruptly." The weekend before Jack died, he went with his parents to a horse yard owned by close friends, but his uncommunicative mood and his lack of interest in the horses, the love of his life, caused further alarm. This is what spurred Michael to call Jack's housemaster for the second time in three weeks. "It was Tuesday, October 9," he says. I raised our concerns and once again asked him to keep an eye on Jack. But I felt what I was trying to say was just going over his head. Three days later at 7am, Jack's body was discovered. Michael recalls every word of the phone call that followed 20 minutes later. It was Jack's housemaster Simon Conner. He sounded very jittery and asked if I was sitting down, then told me he had very bad news. He said Jack had tried to hang himself. Jack Bowlby reported having 'dark thoughts' only three days after his dose of Roaccutane was increased Mandy remembers: "When we got to the college, there were police cars in the driveway and as we pulled in I just remember one of the policemen turning his back and thinking, "This is not looking good." We were taken to the hospital, which is just across the road, and into the empty room no one wants to be taken into. "I was wailing and I kept asking the nurse and the policeman in the room with us, "Is Jack alive, is he alive?," but they wouldn't answer. The emotional pain at that point was overwhelming but then it became physical and I couldn't keep myself upright. Finally they told us Jack was dead. In fact, as they learned at the inquest, he had probably died within seconds, despite what they were told in that first phone call. Jack's parents were also shocked to learn that their son's thoughts - although they knew them to be troubled - had extended to killing himself. It was the first time they had heard any mention of suicide, says Michael. Disappointed: Jack's family have questioned why the school's headteacher Alex Peterken, pictured, did not attend the inquest Delivering his verdict, Tom Osborne, deputy assistant coroner for Gloucestershire, said he was concerned about the way the college handled cases of children in crisis and that he was considering recommending a specific suicide prevention policy. In addition, there has been criticism of the school's decision not to send headmaster Dr Alex Peterken to the inquest, asking Karen Davies, deputy head of pastoral care, to step in and give evidence instead. Dr Peterken released a statement after the inquest, saying: "Jack was a terrific young man and a much-loved pupil of whom we were very proud . . . There was, sadly, no way of knowing that Jack was about to die in the way that he did and as today's inquest verdict has shown, his death came as a bolt from the blue. Jack's Roaccutane medication was prescribed independently of the college with the full consent and knowledge of his parents. In January 2012, concerns over Jack's emotional well-being were discussed with the family and his medication subsequently reduced. At all times, the college put Jack's family at the heart of decision-making. Shock: Jack was found with a belt round his neck at the prestigious Cheltenham College boarding school in Gloucestershire Statistics suggest that one in 10,000 who take Roaccutane risk serious side effects and, in 2009, manufacturer Roche decided to withdraw the drug from the US. The company says it was for commercial, not safety, reasons. It insists no causal link has been established with suicide but says there is a link between severe acne and depression. The drug remains licensed for prescription on the NHS. By the summer of last year Jack had stopped taking the tablets, but Dr Graham Mould, a consultant pharmaceutical forensic toxicologist, told the inquest that the risk of side effects from Roaccutane peaks within six months of finishing treatment and that Jack would have been four months into that period at the time of his death. He said: "I have to ask myself, if Jack had not taken Roaccutane over the last six months, would he have taken his life? And I have to say probably not. Michael and Mandy are aghast. Although Roaccutane can be obtained only through a dermatologist, the treatment is cheap because it can be obtained on the NHS, whereas other treatments using lasers for skin problems can cost up to £1,000. Anger: Jenny Pitman says she is certain Jack would still be alive if he had not taken Roaccutane Mandy says: "I can understand those who will read our story and say don't knock Roaccutane because it helps acne. But to those people I would say stop a minute, think about when you are sitting round your kitchen table having a meal as we so often did with Jack, and ask yourself how it would feel if your son or daughter wasn't sitting in their chair any more because of this drug. Jenny is certain that Jack would be alive today but for Roaccutane. It seems to me that if we are putting youngsters on this drug, we might as well go and buy them a car, disconnect the brakes and see how they get on. I am not Jack's parent, I am just his auntie, but if what I say can help save another family from the pain I've watched mine go through, then I will do everything I can to support my sister in the future. She will be needed. For all their apparent advantages, for all the support they have had, particularly, they say, from barrister Simon Medland, the Bowlbys are struggling to overcome a sense of devastation. "We've been served a life sentence and we need to find a way to learn how to live again," says Mandy. None of us will ever again have that carefree life we once had, but it is Jack with a glittering future ahead of him who has lost so much more. When you are brought up to be tough and get on with life, to find yourself rolling on the floor in your bathroom weeping to the point where you can't breathe . . . it's not something I ever imagined. We were offered therapy but it isn't for me. Outside, being with the horses, that is my therapy. The shock protects you initially and you think that is the worst time but facing up to what has happened is just as bad, so I've decided not to face up to it. "I can't believe that Jack isn't going to open the door and say, "Hi mum, what's for lunch?," so I pretend he is out with the horses or at a friend's yard. If people think that is mad then we are barking, but that is what we do to get through each day.