202304395 B2 - [2025] EWCA Crim 1150

Summary of the relevant facts:

The appellant was employed as an “operational support grade” (“OSG”) at HMP Hewell. It should be said in the appellant’s favour that he had a long history of exemplary public service, having served as a police officer for many years before retiring, and had worked as an OSG for about ten years. Until the events which resulted in his conviction, his work had always been meticulous.

The appellant worked a night shift on 7-8 June 2018. During that shift, he was the only person working in a block which housed a large number of prisoners. A supervising officer was working in a different part of the prison. The appellant’s duties included answering any cell calls sounded by any of the prisoners in his block, and supervising three prisoners who were subject to Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork plans (“ACCT plans”).

One of those three prisoners was Mesut Olgun. He had been arrested and remanded into custody following an incident in which he had produced a knife in public, and had inflicted wounds upon himself. His conduct had given rise to concerns about his mental health. It was his first night in the prison. He had been assessed as a high-risk prisoner and had for that reason been allocated a single cell. The ACCT plan in his case required the appellant to make, and record, four irregularly-spaced checks per hour. The ACCT plans in relation to the other two prisoners required checks once per hour.

Prison officers who had inspected Mr Olgun’s cell before he was moved into it had failed to notice, and to remove as they should have done, a projecting screw which was capable of being used as a ligature point. The judge was later to describe that serious error as the result of systemic failings at the prison for which the appellant had no responsibility.

At 6.33am on 8 June 2018 the appellant found Mr Olgun hanging by the neck from a ligature attached to the screw. The appellant called for the assistance of the supervising officer. Mr Olgun was cut down and resuscitated, but sadly died a week later.

It was accepted by the appellant that he had failed to perform his duties in relation to checking the prisoners who were subject to ACCT plans. He had last checked Mr Olgun at 5.35am, nearly an hour before he discovered Mr Olgun hanging in his cell. In all, the appellant had failed to perform 24 of the 38 checks he should have made of Mr Olgun, and had failed to perform 4 or 5 of the 9 checks he should have made of each of the other two prisoners. He had falsified the records he had made, which purported to show that he had carried out all the required checks.