Prison officer laughed before inmate died - inquest

Mr Tarrant reportedly suffered a cocaine-induced psychotic episode during his first night of custody

A prison officer who laughed outside an inmate's cell shortly before his death has called it a "trauma response" after a prolonged restraint, an inquest has heard.

Josh Tarrant reportedly suffered a cocaine-induced psychotic episode during his first night in prison at HMP Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, on 31 October 2023.

The 34-year-old, who had to be subdued multiple times by several staff over a two-hour period, then suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the early hours of the following day.

HMP Elmley prison officer Jamie Vidler told Kent and Medway Coroner's Court in Maidstone on Wednesday that her behaviour during the incident had been "aggressive and unhelpful".

Admitting that she had shouted at Mr Tarrant and punched him in the leg, she conceded that she would now "do a lot of things differently".

Ms Vidler described laughing when the inmate caught his finger in a metal cell door as a coping mechanism, even though "none of it was funny".

She also said that Mr Tarrant, who hit his head against a cell wall, seemed to have "no sense of pain" that evening and that she later believed he was "playing dead".

"I honestly thought he was feigning it and still can't quite believe how someone can go from being so animated to just being not there," she added.

Pathologist Dr Ginni Fitzpatrick-Swallow told jurors that Mr Tarrant would have had an "unreal" tolerance for pain due to his intoxicated state.

She also previously said that, given his condition, any exertion during his restraint would have made him "more vulnerable" to dying.

"[Cocaine intoxication] can cause changes in your behaviour: agitation, confusion, fear, and panic, they all result in further surges of certain hormones in your body," said Dr Fitzpatrick-Swallow.

Mr Tarrant was charged with criminal damage, dangerous driving, assault causing actual bodily harm, and robbery after crashing a Nissan Qashqai in Sittingbourne on 28 October 2023.

The inquest continues.