‘FAILURE TO STOP DRUGS GETTING IN CONTRIBUTED TO MAN’S DEATH’

A FAILURE to prevent drugs entering HMP Berwyn contributed to the death of a prisoner who suffered heart failure after smoking Spice, a jury concluded.

Luke Morris Jones, serving a four-year sentence for robbery at the Wrexham prison, was found unresponsive in his cell on March 31, 2018. Later that day, the 22-year-old (pictured) died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital of heart failure due to taking a synthetic cannabinoid, the inquest in Ruthin concluded.

In their conclusion, the jury said his death was a “drug related death in circumstances where a systematic failure in HMP Berwyn for preventing drugs entering the prison contributed”.

The inquest heard fake legal letters coated in illegal psychoactive substances, such as Spice and Mamba, were being used to smuggle the drug into the prison.

John Gittins, coroner for North East Wales and Central, said he would write to the Ministry of Justice under Regulation 28 to prevent future deaths and ask what measures were being taken. He accepted machines had now been introduced at the prison to scan for the drug, and sniffer dogs were also being used.

But Mr Gittins said: “I am concerned by the continuing accessibility of drugs within this establishment.”

He said the drug problem didn’t just affect HMP Berwyn but existed “throughout the entirety of the UK”.

The coroner also pointed out HMP Berwyn had only had five deaths in the three years since it opened and Jones was the first drugrelated one. Other prisons around the country would normally expect to see between six and eight deaths a year on average, he said. “It’s clear good work is being done there,” said Mr Gittins, although he added that more needed to be done. Mr Gittins extended his condolences to the prisoner’s father David and praised the way he had conducted himself through the hearing.