FIVE YEARS. NO CHARGES

Family criticise delayed decisions over death in prison

Prison officers accused of lying in court about the death of inmate Allan Marshall will not be charged with perjury. Prosecutors at the Crown Office in Edinburgh had ordered a review of their evidence given at a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI), following a request from Allan’s family and a damning judgment by a sheriff.

In his 109-page ruling, Sheriff Gordon Liddle said: “It was clear that prison officer staff did not tell the whole truth on a number of occasions. Sometimes they appeared to be mutually and consistently dishonest.” Last week, in a letter from the Crown Office, the Marshall family were told there was not enough evidence to show that prison officers had committed perjury, despite Mr Liddle’s comments.

During the FAI at Edinburgh Sheriff Court Sheriff in 2018 Mr Liddle repeatedly warned the witnesses about their evidence and also reminded them they were under oath. The decision not to prosecute the prison officers is the latest setback to Allan Marshall’s family who have been campaigning for more than five years to get to the truth behind his death. Allan, 30, was on remand at Edinburgh’s Saughton prison in March 2015 when he suffered a cardiac arrest after a struggle with up to 13 staff. The incident, which was captured on CCTV, showed the untried inmate being dragged naked, face down and feet first across a segregation unit floor with a towel over his head. Allan died four days later in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, his body covered with unexplained injuries, after being placed in an induced coma. During the FAI the prison officers involved in his restraint were given immunity from prosecution if they agreed to give evidence. However, that did not exclude them from future perjury charges if they were subsequently found to be lying.