Prison officer 'wrong' not to call emergency

Alin Drughe found Ricky Crosher in his cell at HMP Lowdham Grange on the morning of 11 October

A prison officer could have called for help sooner for an inmate who later died, an inquest has heard.

Ricky Crosher died at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire on 11 October 2023.

A jury at Nottingham Coroner's Court on Friday heard that, on the morning of the 40-year-old's death, Alin Drughe had seen his cell observation hatch was blocked but carried out other checks before calling for help from a colleague and raising the alarm. He told the inquest his assessment of the situation was "completely wrong".

Crosher, who was originally from Basildon in Essex, was then found hanging in his cell.

Mr Drughe said he would act differently if a similar case happened today and criticised conditions in the Category B jail at the time of the death.

HMP Lowdham Grange is a Category B jail

The court heard Mr Drughe had worked at Lowdham Grange since 2018, and was normally stationed with the search and security team.

He said he started his shift at 06:00 GMT on 11 October, but was then cross-deployed over to the wings to cover for a staff member who had called in sick.

After arriving at about 06:40 he spoke to Amanda Barnett, who was on the morning shift, and told him that according to the night shift workers no prisoners on an ACCT - the assessment, care in custody and teamwork system used in jails to help people at risk of self-harm or suicide - needed to be checked until 07:00.

They carried out a roll call of prisoners, and Mr Drughe was seen going past Crosher's cell at 06:47, and he told jurors the observation hatch was clear and he had seen the inmate.

At 07:02 he saw the observation hatch was now blocked while doing an ACCT check, but completed his other checks before getting Ms Barnett to revisit the cell.

They saw Crosher inside and at 07:06 found he was hanging, so Mr Drughe called a code blue emergency and began CPR, but the inmate was later pronounced dead.

'No staff support'

Mr Drughe said he was not aware of Crosher or his history of self-harm, substance abuse, and other risk factors.

He told the inquest he had been wary of opening the cell alone due to a high number of attacks on staff at the time but accepted he made a "very serious" mistake in not calling a code blue emergency as soon as he saw the hatch was blocked.

"The assessment I made at that time was completely wrong," he said.

Noting how he was covering from another part of the prison due to staff sickness, Mr Drughe said there was "no staff support" from senior management, describing a "massive influx of contraband" into the jail and worsening conditions for inmates and staff.

"I think we went past the emergency situation, because of drastic stuff [happening] on a daily basis," he said.

Ms Barnett, who also gave evidence, told the court she arrived at 06:15 and was working overtime on a normal day shift, and took over from night workers Daryoush Ramsden and Alyson Trapp.

On Thursday, jurors learned both had been suspended over their actions on that shift, with Ms Trapp found to have incorrectly recorded a check on Crosher taking place at 06:10 when it never happened.

Ms Barnett said she was told by Mr Ramsden that no ACCTs needed checking until 07:00 and that Crosher had "a fairly unsettled night but then he was fine again".

She said she was unaware the last check on Crosher happened at 05:58 as it had been recorded as happening at 06:00, but said had she been properly informed of the checks and his history "I would have gone and checked [on him] straight away".

The inquest continues.