INMATE DIES IN HOSPITAL AFTER HE WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS
Prison officer discovered Vahit, 61, in cell
A PRISONER from Stoke-on-trent has died after being found unconscious in his cell.
Construction worker Vahit Tezgel was serving time for unlawful wounding after hitting a neighbour with a piece of wood.
The 61-year-old, formerly of Fletcher Road, Stoke, was discovered unresponsive by a prison officer at Stoke Heath Prison in Market Drayton, right, and died at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford on September 30.
An inquest into Mr Tezgel’s death has now been opened and adjourned at Shropshire Coroner’s Court at Shirehall in Shrewsbury last week.
There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and the inquest was adjourned to March 10 next year.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed it was aware of Mr Tezgel’s death. Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard Mr Tezgel confronted his neighbour after making numerous complaints about him and noise levels at his Stoke flat.
On the evening of the attack on December 21, 2018, his neighbour, who was in his mid-60s, had gone downstairs to answer the door to a couple he knew.
He had just come out of the shower and was only wearing a towel. But Tezgel was also standing outside and he told the man not to let people into the flat.
He then struck his victim on the forehead with the length of wood, leaving a gash that needed several stitches. The neighbour also suffered bruising to his chest, arms, ribs and back.
He went inside to fetch a cricket bat to retaliate, but was soon disarmed as Tezgel continued the attack. It eventually ended when someone else intervened.
Mr Tezgel, who claimed he was only acting in self-defence, was sentenced to 27 months in prison in August last year.