CALLS ‘REVEAL DISTRESS’ OF SUICIDE INMATE
HARROWING phone calls made by a teenage inmate revealed he was in a “huge amount of distress” before he committed suicide, a fatal accident inquiry heard.
Heather Keir, a retired prison service deputy governor, said she listened to calls made by Raygen Merchant, 17, before he hanged himself from a light fitting in his cell.
Keir, 61, told Falkirk Sheriff Court she was “in no doubt” that “media reporting was one of the most significant factors” in his decision to kill himself.
Merchant died at Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution, Stirlingshire, on October 17, 2014. Keir said: “I listened to the last phone calls he made and there is no doubt that it was clearly causing him a huge amount of distress.
“In Raygen’s mind, to be labelled as a sex offender was one step too far.”
The inquiry was read excerpts of phone calls Merchant had with his girlfriend Lizzie Milne.
Referring to reports that he had tried to force the victim of his knife crime upstairs for sex, he said: “I didna expect you to believe me, Lizzie, naebody else does. They listen to what it says in the paper.
“There’s nae light at the end of the tunnel, so f*** it, there’s nae mair I can dae, man.”
Keir’s review found “newspaper reporting of his crime, anniversaries of family deaths, and the content of telephone calls with his sister and girlfriend immediately prior to his death were contributing factors”.
The inquiry, before Sheriff John Mundy, continues.