Suicide watch prisoner found hanged

A prisoner with a history of self-harm and depression was found hanged in a cell after being placed on suicide watch.

Gareth Thomas, 26, was discovered at Bedford Prison with a sheet from his bed tied to the bars of his cell window.

An inquest jury at Bedford Magistrates Court on Thursday heard that Thomas was found dead in September 2002, six weeks into a four-month prison sentence for assaulting a former girlfriend.

Coroner David Morris was told Thomas had been assessed as a suicide risk on his arrival at the prison and placed in the hospital wing.

Thomas, from Morfa, Llanelli, had returned to his cell early on 30 September.

'Quite chirpy'

He was later found by a guard who had unlocked the cell door for another inmate.

Thomas' mother, Margaret, told the hearing that her son had seemed in a good mood despite receiving disappointing news.

She had told him it was doubtful she would be able to visit him on his birthday which would have been on 2 October.

Mrs Thomas, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, said that although her son was upset at the prospect of not seeing her, he had seemed "quite chirpy".

She told the inquest she regarded incidents in the past when her son had slashed his wrists or taken an overdose as cries for help rather than attempts to take his own life.

Thomas was convicted at Peterborough Crown Court of assaulting a former girlfriend at St Ives, Cambridgeshire, and was taken to Bedford Prison on 19 August 2002.

The hearing continues.