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Manchester Evening News
A prisoner died after she was found ‘unresponsive’ in her room behind bars following a ‘heated argument’ with her partner, a watchdog has said.
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), which investigates deaths in custody, has now published a report arising from an investigation into the death at HMP Styal, a women-only prison near Wilmslow in Cheshire, of Imogen Mellor, who was 29. She was found hanging in her shared room at Styal on July 4, 2018, and died that evening.
The PPO report said her death was the first ‘self-inflicted death’ at the prison since 2016. There have been two further self-inflicted deaths, both in 2019, and two deaths from natural causes in 2020, it added.
Mellor, from Lancashire, who was said to have a history of drug use, attacked a massage parlour boss with a rubber mallet before going on the run with her partner in a case compared at the time to the 1991 film Thelma and Louise. She was jailed for 21 months for theft and unlawful wounding in January 2018.
The ombudsman said attempts were made to resuscitate her but she died in hospital at 10.30pm that evening.
The report said: “Ms Mellor was very dependent emotionally on her relationship with her partner (a fellow prisoner) and had had a heated argument with her shortly before she died. However, staff were not aware of this.
“I am satisfied there was little to indicate that Ms Mellor was at imminent risk of suicide, and I do not consider that staff at Styal could have predicted that. Ms Mellor intended to take her own life when she did.”
The argument was said to have been about Mellor’s drug use.
Another prisoner, however, told the investigator Mellor told her a week before she died that she ‘felt a bit low’ because she would be released soon without her partner – referenced as Prisoner A who was due to be released a few weeks later.
“She said that Prisoner A was Ms Mellor’s ‘absolute life’,” adds the report.
It said the investigation found the standard of clinical care provided to her was ‘equivalent to that which she could have expected to receive in the community, especially for her mental health and support for substance recovery’.
The report by Kimberley Bingham, Acting Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said: “Around 3.00pm on 4 June 2018, Ms Mellor had a heated argument with her partner, and returned to her residential house. Her partner shouted up at Ms Mellor’s room window but, when Ms Mellor did not respond, she alerted an officer who went to Ms Mellor’s room.” She was then said to have been found ‘unresponsive’.
“While Ms Mellor had some risk factors for suicide and self-harm, we are satisfied that in the days leading to her death, there was nothing to indicate that she was at increased risk,” added the report. “Staff were not aware that she had argued with her partner, and we do not consider that they could have foreseen her death.”
Styal holds up to 486 women. There is a variety of residential units, including 16 separate houses each holding about 20 women in shared rooms.
The PPO said an inquest concluded in May 2024 and found ‘Ms Mellor deliberately chose to ligature, with the physical evidence suggesting suicide, however the true extent of Ms Mellor’s desire to live or die cannot be determined’.