PO raid gunman’s jail death was caused by heroin overdose

A dangerous gunman died of a drug overdose in prison just weeks before he was due to be set free, a Fatal Accident Inquiry has found.

Kevin Sloan, 31, from Paisley, who was jailed for eight years over a terrifying Post Office armed robbery, died at HMP Castle Huntly in February 2016.

A sheriff concluded nothing could be have been done to prevent his death after he took heroin and Class- B drug AKB48 N-( 5hydroxypenty).

He was set to released from prison just a month later, it has been revealed.

In a written judgment, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio, who presided over the inquiry, concluded prison staff were not at fault for his death.

He said: “The deceased was in his second period in the Open Estate.

“He had been in Castle Huntly for several months prior to his death. On the face of it, matters seemed to be progressing well for him.

“He had enjoyed a number of home visits and was producing clean tests within the prison routine testing scheme

“On the evidence available to me, there were no reasonable precautions that could have been taken that might realistically prevent other deaths in similar circumstances.

“I close by offering once again my condolences to the family of the late Kevin David Scott Sloan.”

Sloan was jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2012 after he admitted carrying out a shocking armed robbery at a Post Office in Newton Mearns.

He and an accomplice used a gun to blast through a locked door of the post office in Mearns Road before making off with almost £6,000.

Sloan was quickly traced by police because he left his ID and a mask he used in the van he hired for the getaway in November 2011.

The robbers made off in a van which was later abandoned.

Sloan, however, left behind his photo ID driving licence, the van rental agreement, and his mask, which was found to have his DNA on it as well as shotgun residue.