Nothing could have been done to prevent the death of a Dundee man in custody, a sheriff has ruled.
Lawrence Devlin took his own life on April 2 2011, just two days after being remanded in Perth Prison, pending a future trial.
The 33-year-old had appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court in connection with breach of the peace and assault charges.
A fatal accident inquiry into his death heard that following his court appearance on April 1, he was transferred to HMP Perth and, following an assessment, was placed on hourly observations due to concerns that he was “not his usual self”.
The following day, however, prison staff gained the impression he was “quite happy” and was a lot calmer.
A conference was held on the afternoon of April 2, which determined that despite Mr Devlin’s denials of having suicidal thoughts, he would benefit from remaining on ACT 2 Care the suicide prevention strategy used by the Scottish Prison Service.
The inquiry was also told he had called his mother later that day, asking her to send money and discussing the strength of the case against him, suggesting it would be dropped.
Although hourly checks were carried out without raising any concerns, Mr Devlin was found hanging in his cell at 11.50pm.
During the inquiry, solicitor Gary McIlravey criticised the ACT strategy, saying it “was not fit for purpose” and Mr Devlin should have been placed in an anti-ligature cell.
In his written judgement, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said the measures put in place were “perfectly adequate”.
He added: “The reasons for deciding against placing Mr Devlin in an anti-ligature cell were explained and these explanations made clear sense to me. An anti-ligature cell is spartan to say the least.
“To be placed in such a cell when staff are being told by the prisoner there is no question of self-harm might well be considered a punishment, as opposed to protection by the prisoner.
“In the absence of any evidence to show there were indicators pointing to his being likely to take his life and these were not picked up and acted upon, I’m afraid Mr Devlin’s suicide was something which no one could have reasonably foreseen.
“Not one witness said anything other than they were surprised at his suicide.”