Cell death of accused in murder case still a mystery
THIRD MAN SUSPECTED OF NEW YEAR KILLING DIED AFTER FITS
AN alleged murderer died after spending his 40th birthday “playing PlayStation” in his jail cell.
Lee Annis was remanded in HMP Durham after he denied murdering Ashley Cochrane.
But he “started going purple” and frothing at the mouth while in his cell.
Although tests couldn’t ascertain what caused the drug addict’s death on February 19 last year, a watchdog has revealed an expert “could not rule out” the possibility Annis had taken the drug Spice before his death last February 19.
The suspect was awaiting trial over the killing of Ashley, who was found in a Byker hostel on New Year’s Day 2018 with head injuries.
Two others, Sean Histon and George Dixon, were convicted of the gruesome attack and jailed for a total of 47 years.
Ashley was beaten, stamped on, stabbed and had his head slammed through a plasterboard wall, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The attack – carried out to get the 29-year-old’s PIN number – left him unrecognisable. Now a Prison and Probation Ombudsman report has detailed the final hours of one of the men initially accused of the attack.
“At around 4pm, Mr Annis and his cellmate had some tea and were then locked in their cell for the night,” reads the report.
“Mr Annis’s cellmate said that not long after they were locked in their cell, Mr Annis said he was having chest pain and held his hands to the middle of his chest.
“His cellmate said that the pain seemed to pass and they sat on the bottom bunk and played PlayStation games.
“Mr Annis complained of chest pain again and started rubbing his chest.”
Concerned, his cellmate used a phone to call the healthcare unit but couldn’t get through.
The pain kept reappearing before going away. Staff who carried out checks in the subsequent hours claimed nothing appeared untoward. But the report says that an hour after they started playing on the console Annis’s face and arms started going purple, there was froth around his mouth, and he fell against the hot pipes at the back of the cell.
It reads: “[The cellmate] tried to put Mr Annis in the recovery position and then pressed the cell bell alarm and started kicking the door and shouting for help.
“He put a pillow under Mr Annis’s head and held him while he was fitting. “He said that when Mr Annis stopped having fits his body went floppy in his arms. He kept speaking to him saying things like, ‘Come on, mate.’” The cellmate shouted “Boss! Boss! Here, boss!” while banging on the cell door to alert staff.
Staff then desperately tried to save him, but they struggled to manoeuvre around Annis - a “big man” - and had to climb over him to try to resuscitate him.
An ambulance was called but paramedics had to wait at the broken gate for staff to hand-crank it open. However, their efforts were in vain. Despite a history of drug issues – including heroin and crack – the report states Annis “did not want to engage with services” when he arrived at HMP Durham on January 6.
A post-mortem examination was unable to pinpoint the exact cause of his death. However, the report has flagged up concerns to prison bosses over his death, including concerns relating to risk assessments – after a nurse burned her leg on a pipe trying to save him.
There was also a “short delay” in nurses entering the cell as there wasn’t a manager there.
The report states they feared for their safety, adding: “Healthcare staff said that they would never enter a cell without prison staff under any circumstances.”
Police found a makeshift spoon used to take drugs in Annis’s cell, but, apart from traces of unprescribed antidepressants, there was no evidence of drugs in his system.
But the report adds: “While toxicology testing did not identify synthetic cannabinoids in Mr Annis’s system, the toxicologist noted that he could not exclude [the possibility] that Mr Annis took synthetic cannabinoids before he died.”
The murder charge against Annis, of Percy Main, North Tyneside, was discontinued following his death.
The cellmate said that when Mr Annis stopped having fits his body went floppy in his arms Ombudsman report