The sister of a young dad stabbed to death while in prison says she can "never forgive" his killer or the former bosses of violence plagued HMP Altcourse.
Dad-of-two Darren Ashcroft, from Norris Green, stepped in to stop "lethal threat" fellow inmate Keir Michael attacking his cellmate but ended up being stabbed in the chest with a makeshift 'shank' on November 14, 2014.
The 35-year-old died a week from his release and two weeks before his mum, Vera Ashcroft, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and left to face her final days without her son.
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The attack occurred on the troubled Valentines Green wing of the G4S run private prison, which was then experiencing a huge spike in violence and anti-social behaviour, fuelled partly by the rise of synthetic drugs such as Spice.
Later 22 illicit weapons - including makeshift knives, razor blades inside Kinder Eggs and pointed metal shards - were found on Valentines Green wing by Merseyside Police search teams investigating Darren's death.
Today an inquest jury sitting at Gerard Majella Courthouse, Kirkdale, slammed the management of HMP Altcourse over the circumstances of Darren's death, while reaching a conclusion of unlawful killing.
Speaking after the conclusion, Darren's sister, 40-year-old Kerry Ashcroft, told the ECHO she would "never forgive and never forget" how both Michael and the prison's failings contributed to her brother's killing.
She said: "I would like to emphasise the frustration and prolonged upset this process has caused the family.
"Our mother lost her son, and she was never the same – she was a broken woman.
"Having been diagnosed with cancer just two weeks after his murder, it was a time when our mother needed her children the most, and Darren was not able to be there."
The jury found that poor analysis of internal intelligence reports, lack of communication, staffing shortages and "unsatisfactory" assessments of threats to life "possibly contributed" to the fatal incident.
Jurors also concluded the prison was slow to react to concerns raised by watchdog HM Inspectorate of Prisons, which warned of rising levels of violence and criticised efforts to reduce it in June, 2014.
The inquest heard weapons had previously been found in Michael's cell, that he threatened to harm other prisoners and staff if his demands were not met, and he had threatened to stab a young prisoner if he did not hand over drugs and phones.
Intelligence had also been received that Michael had weapons "stashed around the wing".
However Darren, although he had a troubled life and found himself on the wrong side of the law, was not considered violent or a troublemaker by his fellow inmates.
His sister Kerry, a nurse at Aintree Hospital, told the ECHO: "From what other prisoners who got in touch have told me, Darren was a lover not a fighter.
"Darren didn't do conflict. If trouble came to him he knew how to handle himself and he would look after himself but he was not the type of guy to go looking for it.
"He's only ever looked after himself, and he had to rely on himself. While we didn't agree with his rule-breaking we understood why he was doing it."
Kerry says that around a year before Darren was sent to prison, for drugs supply offences, she and her mum had a falling-out with him and were not in contact.
However she said Darren wrote to his mum shortly before his death, informing them he was in prison and would be released shortly, and that he wanted to make amends with his family.
She said: "We looked forward to seeing him, but we were robbed of this.
"We will never forgive Kier Michael or Altcourse prison, nor will we forget what they did.
"We are grateful to the jury for the time that they gave to this inquest, but also how closely they had listened to the evidence, and the multiple failings they identified.
"The jury have identified failings which we knew to be true all along, and this has helped to hold the prison publicly accountable.
"We would also like to thank all of our legal team who have supported us over the years. Without their support and help, we would not have gotten this far or received the outcome that we did today."
During the nine day inquest, the jury heard how concerns had been raised in a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) months before Darren's death.
The inspection team concluded analysis of security reports was "underdeveloped and inadequate to inform strategy" and the prison's efforts to reduce violence "lacked direction".
Sean Oliver, who was deputy director of Altcourse at the time, accepted there was no system in place to check whether security measures recommended by the intelligence team, such as cell searches, were actually carried out.
However under questioning from assistant coroner Joseph Hart and barrister Nick Stanage, representing the Ashcroft family, senior prison managers from the time accepted they did not expand Altcourse's "extremely busy" and "overstretched" three-strong intelligence analysis team.
Former director Bob McCombe told the court he believed he did "everything I could reasonably do" to reduce violence despite it rising to "very high levels" on his watch.
However the court heard the prison had no local policy on weapons at the time.
Michael, then 41, was sentenced to life in prison at Liverpool Crown Court in 2015 after being convicted of Darren's manslaughter and wounding his cellmate, Terry Roderick, with intent.
High Court judge Mr Justice Dove, passing sentence, said Michael had armed himself with a “vicious weapon” and carried out an unprovoked assault.
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