Prison worker cleared over inmate's manslaughter

HMP Hewell inmate Mesut Olgun was arrested after a violent struggle in Bromyard

A former worker at HMP Hewell has been found not guilty of manslaughter after a prisoner took his own life on his first night there.

Graham Evans, who had been responsible for checking on Mesut Olgun, had denied the charge.

Mr Justice Pepperall directed a jury to return a not guilty verdict as he felt there was not enough evidence for a conviction.

Mr Evans has also been accused of misconduct in a public office and has denied the charge.

HMP Hewell near Redditch, Worcestershire

The 66-year-old told the jury at Worcester Crown Court he knew Mr Olgun, 30, had harmed himself the day before but thought it was “a cry for help".

He also told the court that he did not believe Mr Olgun, who was at the prison on remand, to be a suicide risk.

He had been assessed as being 'an immediate suicide risk' and should have been checked four times per hour.

Police dog Bacca had been seriously injured by Mesut Olgun

Mr Olgun, 30, from Bristol, was arrested after a violent struggle in Bromyard, Herefordshire, in which he stabbed a police officer and his dog before harming himself, in June 2018.

Mr Evans had been due to check on him 33 times during his night shift at HMP Hewell but looked in his cell just 10 times.

He told the court that it was his normal practice to make notes when he checked on prisoners and then write them up later in his shift.

He said he was stressed on the night of Mr Olgun's death as a table and clipboard that he normally used were not available.

“I wasn’t working as well as I normally did, my back was hurting and I knew I was starting to struggle,” he told the jury.

“I accept that the CCTV shows that I hadn’t gone to the cell but I firmly believed that I’d done the checks when I entered them in the log,” he said.

The court heard Mr Evans, an operational support grade at the prison, wrote two more entries after Mr Olgun had been discovered unconscious in his cell.

He told the jury his supervisor had told him to make sure his paperwork was up to date.

Mr Evans, who spent 33 years as a police officer before starting work at HMP Hewell, denied he had deliberately missed checks on Mr Olgun.

"I believed I'd done the checks when I filled the sheet in. I'll go to my grave believing that," he told the court.

The trial continues.