A former Fife church leader who raped a teenage churchgoer died of heart disease a week after being jailed.
Stephen Charters, 57, suddenly collapsed while carrying out cleaning duties and died inside HMP Edinburgh in June 2022.
Charters had been imprisoned at the High Court in Edinburgh for a minimum of five years and made the subject of an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) – meaning he may never have been freed.
He had attacked a teenager from the Leven church in which he was involved after she reached out to him for help.
Charters was convicted of offences including rape, sexual assault and indecent conduct towards four victims committed between 1984 and 2015.
A fatal accident inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard he had a history of breathlessness and chest pains which were consistent with angina as well as heart disease.
He had a “do not resuscitate” (DNACPR) notice on his medical files, which had been put in place in 2020.
A nurse in the jail had attempted to perform CPR but stopped when told about the notice.
FAI determination
Sheriff Julius Komorowski ruled there were no defects in any systems of working and made no recommendations.
In a written judgment, he said: “The deceased died in prison from heart disease following long-standing complaints of chest pains.
“He appears to have been attentively treated for his medical conditions in the years preceding his death.
“He was immediately attended to on his collapse, treatment only not progressing once a DNACPR order was promptly brought to notice.
“The DNACPR order reflected the sustained wishes of the deceased and was made following his discussion with a physician.
“DNACPR orders are not commonplace for that prison.
“No review date appears to have been set for the order, which seems at odds with the relevant policy, though there is no reason to think this was of any consequence for this deceased.”
Repeat offender
Charters, formerly of Galashiels in the Borders, attacked his teenage victim at a hotel in Edinburgh after she had argued with her boyfriend and appealed to him for assistance finding somewhere to stay.
Instead he booked into a hotel and subjected her to sex acts before raping her.
Charters served a previous five-year jail term in 2016 for sex crimes against children.
He maintained his innocence and imposing the OLR judge Lady Carmichael said: “You present a high risk of further sexual offending.
“You have a limited capacity for change.”
