Wife killer took own life due to his release doubts
- Published
Anne Farquhar died in 2008
A man serving a jail term for killing his estranged wife took his own life after losing a charity shop placement, a sheriff has found.
Richard Farquhar became depressed about his chances of being released from prison, Sheriff Andrew McIntyre concluded.
Farquhar stabbed wife Anne, 45, in 2008 in a car on the A90 between Aberdeen Stonehaven.
He was told he must serve at least 12 years of a life sentence.
Sheriff McIntyre said the death of Farquhar, who was at HMP Greenock, may have been avoided.
A fatal accident inquiry at the town's sheriff court heard that Farquhar, of Cove Bay, Aberdeen, was 61 when he took his life in 2019.
In his determination, external, Sheriff McIntyre said in the months before the inmate's death, prison bosses were preparing him for release.
He was enjoying his placement at a charity shop but it stopped after a staff member started feeling uncomfortable with Farquhar when alone with him.
Prison staff stopped the placement and moves to have him released from custody.
He was also ordered to attend sessions with a psychologist.
However officials who sat on the prison's risk management team did not provide him with detailed plans on how he could resume work for his release.
The team also did not give him a timescale into when the psychology sessions would take place.
Sheriff McIntyre concluded that had these actions taken place then Farquhar's death may have been avoided.
He wrote: "I have found that Mr Farquhar committed suicide following a decline in his mental health contributed to by his suspension from a community placement.
"In particular I have found that: delay, a lack of joined-up working, and insufficient communication with Mr Farquhar, all contributed to him becoming distressed by his lack of progress, and to opportunities to avert that distress being missed.
"I find that those omissions contributed to his death."
He recommended that prison risk management teams keep timescales on the completion of tasks needed to ensure the release of prisoners from life sentences.
Sheriff McIntyre also recommended that prisoners have "sufficient, accurate and timely information" about plans to release them from custody.