A person jailed for holding a pupil prisoner and brutally torturing him in a horror 5 hour theft has died behind bars after taking medication and downing home-brewed alcohol.
Lee Thomas was found unconscious in his cell at HMP Garth in Leyland, Lancashire, on February 2, 2019.
A report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has since uncovered a collection of failings by jail workers after the offender was discovered, together with an "unacceptable" 14 minute delay earlier than emergency companies had been referred to as.
Toxicology experiences discovered that the Kensington dad had a cocktail of pharmaceuticals, 'psychoactive substances' and alcohol in his system, nevertheless the medical explanation for his loss of life continues to be unknown, the Liverpool Echo experiences.
A fellow inmate, described as a detailed buddy of Thomas, informed PPO Sue McAllister that he had seen Thomas consuming the hooch and "taking tablets", resulting in her expressing "concern" concerning the ease he was in a position to receive illicit substances on the jail wings.
Thomas, 37, had been handed an prolonged sentence of 14 and a half years in jail, with an extra three and a half years on licence, at Liverpool Crown Courtroom in February 2018 after admitting theft and housebreaking. The court docket heard how Thomas and one other untraced man, named in court docket as Michael Andrews, ran into the then 26-year-old sufferer in Kensington within the early hours of July 15, 2017.
The coed had been on an evening out however left his residence in Elm Vale Highway, Fairfield, aspiring to stroll to McDonald's for meals when Thomas persuaded him to affix a gathering at his flat in Holt Highway, Kensington. Nevertheless Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, informed the court docket: “As soon as inside, there was no consuming, there was no dialog, the door was closed, and Lee Thomas put his hood up, produced a steel bar and stated to (the sufferer) ‘you’re going to die now mate’.”
The terrified sufferer stated he had simply £30 in his pockets and provided it to his captors, however Thomas stated they wished £1,000 or they'd kill him. Thomas and Andrews then stripped him bare, blindfolded him with a T-shirt, tied his palms and punched and hit him with unknown objects.
His pockets, keys and playing cards had been stolen from his clothes, and he was threatened till he gave up his his deal with. He was additionally pressured to name his cousin asking for cash to be transferred into his checking account.
The coed was carried into one other room and thrown on to a mattress, the place he was subjected to vile racial abuse and informed a knife could be “caught up his a***”. A short while after his arrival within the flat a 3rd man, Giovanni Mercuri, arrived at Thomas's flat.
Regardless of later claiming to really feel “sorry” for the sufferer, Mercuri agreed to go together with Thomas and act as a lookout whereas Thomas burgled the sufferer’s home, stealing an iPad and a laptop computer containing very important work referring to his research. The pair then returned to Holt Highway and Thomas continued the marketing campaign of terror, which hit new and sinister ranges.
Ms McCloskey informed the court docket: “[The victim] recalled having one thing like oil poured on to his again and the sound of a lighter being flicked with the phrases ‘lets simply burn him and go away him right here’.”
Thomas, rising annoyed on the failure to switch cash from the coed's account, pressured the sufferer to decorate and referred to as a Delta taxi, aspiring to take him to his financial institution in individual. Nevertheless the coed noticed an opportunity to flee and leapt out at a pink site visitors gentle.
The court docket heard his horrendous ordeal left him with solely minor bodily accidents, however he had been pressured to go away the town and his research on account of "extreme psychological hurt".
Thomas and Mercuri had been arrested in August 2017. Mercuri, who the court docket heard was attacked in jail for co-operating with police, was jailed for three-and-a half years after admitting housebreaking and fraud.
Based on the PPO report, Thomas had first been remanded into custody at HMP Liverpool on August 8, 2017, having been refused bail following his arrest. After his sentence was handed, he was transferred to HMP Garth, the place he arrived on March 21, 2018.
His jail information confirmed repeated use of psychoactive substances throughout his time in custody, however Thomas had refused to interact with affords of assist to cease taking medication. Some workers had described him as a hard-worker who hardly ever prompted any points, however there had additionally been experiences of Thomas threatening different prisoners and making an attempt to "tax" fellow inmates on his wing.
On the day of his loss of life, he had been locked into his cell on the regular time of 5pm, however at 7.53pm a patrol officer observed he was slumped in a chair and didn't reply when she tried to talk to him. That jail officer referred to as a colleague for help, however neither of them opened the cell and as an alternative radioed for assist.
The PPO report famous a interval of seven minutes elapsed earlier than an intervention staff opened the cell door, the place they discovered he had vomit in his mouth, was not respiration and had a faint pulse. The staff radioed the jail's management room requesting an ambulance, however the operator misheard their request and didn't name for one till 8.07pm, when a workers nurse requested once more.
The paramedics arrived at his cell at 8.33pm, however after trying CPR pronounced him lifeless at 8.47pm.
Ms McAllister wrote: "In whole there was a delay of round 14 minutes from when Mr Thomas was first recognized as unconscious till the ambulance service was contacted. Whereas we can't say whether or not an earlier name to the ambulance service would have made a distinction to the ultimate end result, this was an unacceptable delay."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice stated: "Our ideas stay with Mr Thomas’s household and mates. We've got carried out all the Ombudsman’s suggestions and workers at HMP Garth have obtained further emergency coaching."
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