Jersey killer should have been in hospital, family say

Damian Rzeszowski killed six people in 2011

The family of a man who killed six people including his wife and children in Jersey say he should have been in a psychiatric hospital.

Damian Rzeszowski was found dead in his cell in a maximum security prison in East Yorkshire, an inquest heard.

Rzeszowski, 37, was jailed for 30 years for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in 2012.

He died on 31 March 2018 - two weeks after staff decided to send him to Broadmoor special hospital.

Rzeszowski killed Izabela Rzeszowska, 30, Kinga, five, and Kacper, two, in St Helier, Jersey, in August 2011, after a barbecue.

He also killed his father-in-law, Marek Garstka, 56, his wife's friend Marta De La Haye, 34, and her daughter Julia De La Haye, aged five.

Rzeszowski was found dead in his cell at Full Sutton prison.

A family statement read out at the inquest at Hull Coroner's Court on Monday said they were worried he was being mistreated at prison and were attempting to contact the Polish embassy for help.

PC Kalina Tyszeca, a British police officer, was tasked with talking to Rzeszowski's parents in Poland.

The officer said the killer's father complained to her about his son's treatment in prison, and said he told her "his son should have been in a mental hospital, not a segregation unit, due to his mental health".

Prof Paul Marks, senior coroner for East Riding and Hull, told the jury the sentencing judge in Jersey in 2012 remarked that, unlike in England and Wales, he did not have the power to send a prisoner to a secure mental hospital, like Broadmoor or Rampton.

However the sentencing judge had expressed the hope it could be facilitated once he was in the UK prison system.

The coroner said it appeared from the records that Rzeszowski spent some time being assessed at Broadmoor at some point while still in custody in Jersey.

Former prison psychiatric nurse Kevin Brennan, who worked at Full Sutton between 2004 and 2022, said a thorough assessment was carried out at the prison by a consultant psychiatrist when Rzeszowski arrived there in 2013.

Mr Brennan said the decision was made not to refer him to a secure hospital and he was placed on a programme involving regular supervision.

The inquest heard his treatment was scaled down in 2015 when he showed signs of improvement.

However in January 2018 he was placed under a closer supervision regime.

Mr Brennan said a psychiatrist decided Rzeszowski was showing signs of psychotic illness and, when he did not comply with his medication, a referral was made to Broadmoor special hospital two weeks before his death.

The inquest was adjourned until Tuesday.

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