A man jailed for holding a student prisoner and brutally torturing him in a horror five hour robbery has died behind bars after taking drugs and downing home-brewed alcohol.
Lee Thomas was discovered unconscious in his cell at HMP Garth in Leyland, Lancashire, on February 2, 2019.
A report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has since exposed a series of failings by prison staff after the offender was found, including an "unacceptable" 14 minute delay before emergency services were called.
Toxicology reports found that the Kensington dad had a cocktail of prescription drugs, 'psychoactive substances' and alcohol in his system, however the medical cause of his death is still unknown, the Liverpool Echo reports.
A fellow inmate, described as a close friend of Thomas, told PPO Sue McAllister that he had seen Thomas drinking the hooch and "taking tablets", leading to her expressing "concern" about the ease he was able to obtain illicit substances on the prison wings.
Thomas, 37, had been handed an extended sentence of 14 and a half years in prison, with an additional three and a half years on licence, at Liverpool Crown Court in February 2018 after admitting robbery and burglary. The court heard how Thomas and another untraced man, named in court as Michael Andrews, bumped into the then 26-year-old victim in Kensington in the early hours of July 15, 2017.
The student had been on a night out but left his home in Elm Vale Road, Fairfield, intending to walk to McDonald's for food when Thomas persuaded him to join a gathering at his flat in Holt Road, Kensington. However Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, told the court: “Once inside, there was no drinking, there was no conversation, the door was closed, and Lee Thomas put his hood up, produced a metal bar and said to (the victim) ‘you’re going to die now mate’.”
The terrified victim said he had just £30 in his wallet and offered it to his captors, but Thomas said they wanted £1,000 or they would kill him. Thomas and Andrews then stripped him naked, blindfolded him with a T-shirt, tied his hands and punched and hit him with unknown objects.
His wallet, keys and cards were stolen from his clothing, and he was threatened until he gave up his his address. He was also forced to call his cousin asking for money to be transferred into his bank account.
The student was carried into another room and thrown on to a bed, where he was subjected to vile racial abuse and told a knife would be “stuck up his a***”. A short time after his arrival in the flat a third man, Giovanni Mercuri, arrived at Thomas's flat.
Despite later claiming to feel “sorry” for the victim, Mercuri agreed to go with Thomas and act as a lookout while Thomas burgled the victim’s house, stealing an iPad and a laptop containing vital work relating to his studies. The pair then returned to Holt Road and Thomas continued the campaign of terror, which hit new and sinister levels.
Ms McCloskey told the court: “[The victim] recalled having something like oil poured on to his back and the sound of a lighter being flicked with the words ‘lets just burn him and leave him here’.”
Thomas, growing frustrated at the failure to transfer money from the student's account, forced the victim to dress and called a Delta taxi, intending to take him to his bank in person. However the student saw a chance to escape and leapt out at a red traffic light.
The court heard his horrendous ordeal left him with only minor physical injuries, but he had been forced to leave the city and his studies due to "severe psychological harm".
Thomas and Mercuri were arrested in August 2017. Mercuri, who the court heard was attacked in prison for co-operating with police, was jailed for three-and-a half years after admitting burglary and fraud.
According to the PPO report, Thomas had first been remanded into custody at HMP Liverpool on August 8, 2017, having been refused bail following his arrest. After his sentence was passed, he was transferred to HMP Garth, where he arrived on March 21, 2018.
His prison records showed repeated use of psychoactive substances during his time in custody, but Thomas had refused to engage with offers of help to stop taking drugs. Some staff had described him as a hard-worker who rarely caused any issues, but there had also been reports of Thomas threatening other prisoners and trying to "tax" fellow inmates on his wing.
On the day of his death, he had been locked into his cell at the usual time of 5pm, but at 7.53pm a patrol officer noticed he was slumped in a chair and did not respond when she tried to speak to him. That prison officer called a colleague for assistance, but neither of them opened the cell and instead radioed for help.
The PPO report noted a period of seven minutes elapsed before an intervention team opened the cell door, where they found he had vomit in his mouth, was not breathing and had a faint pulse. The team radioed the prison's control room requesting an ambulance, but the operator misheard their request and did not call for one until 8.07pm, when a staff nurse asked again.
The paramedics arrived at his cell at 8.33pm, but after attempting CPR pronounced him dead at 8.47pm.
Ms McAllister wrote: "In total there was a delay of around 14 minutes from when Mr Thomas was first identified as unconscious until the ambulance service was contacted. While we cannot say whether an earlier call to the ambulance service would have made a difference to the final outcome, this was an unacceptable delay."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "Our thoughts remain with Mr Thomas’s family and friends. We have implemented all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and staff at HMP Garth have received additional emergency training."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
