Jail chief suicide after porn arrest

Charles Deeney was found hanged in his garage

An assistant prison governor hanged himself five days after being arrested for downloading child pornography onto his laptop computer, and inquest has heard.

The hearing was told that 54-year-old Charles Deeney's body was discovered by his wife in the garage of their family home in the village of St Briavels in Gloucestershire in November.

Mr Deeney lived with his wife and son

He was holding his rosary.

The coroner was told that Mr Deeney - who worked at Cardiff jail - had been arrested after 200 pornographic images of children were found on his computer.

Police told the court he had confessed to downloading the images but had insisted he was not a paedophile.

Officers said he also denied distributing the pictures and said he had never had sex with a child.

Cardiff prison's governor John Thomas-Ferrand told the hearing he had been alerted about the matter by colleagues who had looked at a file on his computer and found child pornography.

John Thomas-Ferrand: No-one else involved

Mr Deeney - who had been in the prison service for 29 years and had taken up the post at Cardiff Prison earlier last year - was then arrested on November 17 and died on November 22.

The inquest heard he had been suffering from depression and was going through divorce proceedings.

Before he was found hanged, he had tried to kill himself with by blocking his car exhaust.

The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.

Afterwards Mr Thomas-Ferrand said a full inquiry into the matter had found that it had been a private matter, and no-one else in Cardiff prison had been involved.