An investigation failed to get to the bottom of the death of a gangland figure jailed for attacking rival drug dealers in order to steal their cannabis stashes.
Gerard Thompson, 29, was found dead at HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, on the morning of November 20, 2020, after complaining of chest pains. The death triggered an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), which this month published a Fatal Incident Report on Thompson's death.
The PPO report described it had been "surprised and disappointed" to learn that the prison had not been carrying out morning welfare checks on prisoners at the time Thompson died, although it has since reinstated the checks.
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Thompson, originally from Norris Green, was arrested in 2014 after a man was tied up and tortured with a screwdriver over a cannabis farm. He was also linked to a series of burglaries on other cannabis stash houses, as well as a plot to burgle luxury cars.
Thompson, the brother of murdered Strand Gang member Joey Thompson, was jailed for 10 years for conspiracy to commit burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was eventually released on licence in May 2019, but only remained free for a matter of months before being recalled to prison in January 2020 after being charged with theft.
He was initially sent to HMP Altcourse in Fazakerley, where in September that year he reported suffering chest pain. While still at Altcourse, Thompson underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG) scan which appeared normal.
He was transferred to Strangeways on September 25, and told staff he was not taking illegal drugs or prescribed medication. According to the PPO report, Thompson again reported severe chest pain on the afternoon of November 19, 2020, and told his partner over the phone that he had "not been able to feel his right leg" the previous night.
He was last seen alive by prison staff that evening, when a female officer saw him lying on his bed watching TV. According to the report, the following morning a prison officer unlocked his cell at 9am to ask if he needed a shower or wanted rubbish removing from his cell.
The PPO report states: "Mr Thompson’s left arm and left leg were both half in and half out of the bed. [The prison officer] stepped closer to Mr Thompson and then saw that his eyes were half open. He called out to a Supervising Officer (SO) who was on the landing and then checked Mr Thompson for a pulse.
"There was no pulse and Mr Thompson’s body was cold. At 9.02am, the officer radioed a medical emergency code blue (to indicate a prisoner is unconscious or having breathing difficulties). The officer estimated that 30 to 60 seconds elapsed from the time of going into Mr Thompson’s cell and the time he radioed a code blue emergency."
According to the report the officer and his SO tried to perform CPR until a prison nurse arrived a couple of minutes later. The nurse immediately recognised Thompson had been dead for some time, and told them to stop.
A post-mortem exam was carried out by a pathologist to ascertain the cause of death. The pathologist noted that Thompson's heart was "slightly enlarged", which could have increased the risk of an abnormal heart rhythm and a sudden cardiac arrest.
Toxicological reports also found traces of the anti-psychotic drug quetiapine, which the report noted "can be subject of abuse", and that Thompson did not have a prescription for. The PPO report states: "The pathologist noted that several studies have found an association between quetiapine use and sudden death secondary to fatal cardiac arrhythmias.
"The pathologist wrote that it was possible that the use of quetiapine in conjunction with the changes in Mr Thompson’s heart could have further increased the risk of fatal heart arrhythmia. However, the pathologist noted that Mr Thompson’s death could also have been caused by an adverse reaction to another substance not detected by post-mortem tests.
"The pathologist concluded that his opinion was that a definitive cause of death could not be provided and he recorded cause of death as unascertained."
The PPO report said a welfare check was supposed to be carried out on prisoners between 7.15am and 8.15am, but the prison had stopped carrying them out around the time of the death. The report said: "As we cannot be sure when Mr Thompson died, we cannot say whether he was dead at around the time that the welfare check should have been made.
"We are surprised and disappointed that Manchester had ceased to carry out morning welfare checks on prisoners. However, we have been told that since Mr Thompson’s death, Manchester has reintroduced these checks, so we make no recommendation."
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