Mother of Keith Lee tells inquest it was 'absolutely devastating' to learn of son's prison death on social media
Keith Lee (42), originally from Tyrconnell Park, Inchicore, Dublin was found dead in the bathroom area of a specially-adapted cell for wheelchair users in Mountjoy Prison shortly after 8am on April 12, 2018
The mother of a remand prisoner who died in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin six years ago has told an inquest how "absolutely devastating" it was to learn via social media that her son had killed himself.
"The whole world knew about it before we did," said Patricia Lee in evidence at a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court.
Her son, Keith Lee (42), originally from Tyrconnell Park, Inchicore, Dublin was found dead in the bathroom area of a specially-adapted cell for wheelchair users in Mountjoy Prison shortly after 8am on April 12, 2018.
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Ms Lee told the inquest that she had been attending her doctor with her daughter, Norma, that morning at around 10am when they received a text message from a friend expressing sympathy about his death.
The inquest heard the news was already posted on social media pages of mainstream media before a garda had called to their home later that morning to formally notify them of the death.
Ms Lee also complained that the content of notes written by her son and found in his cell including a photo extract of one message were also subsequently published in print media.
A large number of gardaí and prison staff who gave evidence at the inquest denied any knowledge of how news of Mr Lee’s death or content of his notes became public.
The deceased was being held in custody at the time after being arrested and charged for the murder of his estranged wife, Joanne Ball.
The body of the 38-year-old Coolock native had been found wrapped in a sleeping bag in a wardrobe in Mr Lee’s apartment in Ranelagh on February 15, 2018 – several days after Lee had reported her missing to gardaí.
Gardaí subsequently believed that she had been strangled six days earlier.
Mr Lee, a professional chef who had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, suffered serious injuries including fractures to both legs after jumping from a third-storey window of the property on Ranelagh Road after gardai arrived at the scene where his wife’s body was found.
As he was lying on the ground, Mr Lee was prevented from trying to inflict further injuries on himself in a second attempt to take his life by the intervention of a garda.
His mother told coroner, Aisling Gannon, during the inquest on Thursday that she and her son always had a good relationship.
Ms Lee said he had expressed sadness that he had not been able to give her a hug to tell her how much he loved her on her last visit to him in Mountjoy on the day before he died.
She also complained that her son, who loved reading books, was unable to access the prison library to take things off his mind.
State pathologist, Linda Mulligan, gave evidence that a post-mortem had shown that Mr Lee died as a result of hanging.
Although prescribed medication found in his body was at a high therapeutic level, Dr Mulligan said it was not a contributory factor in his death.
The inquest heard Mr Lee was last visibly seen during a check by a prison officer at 4am when he was sitting up in bed watching TV.
A prison officer testified that the prisoner seemed to be asleep with the bedcover over his head during subsequent checks.
However, it was later discovered that the bed had been disguised to make it look like he was sleeping in it.
Prison staff confirmed they do not disturb prisoners if they appear to be sleeping normally.
Queried about the leak of details of the prisoner’s death, the assistant governor of Mountjoy, Paddy Moran, said prison staff who had found Mr Lee would not have had access to a camera to take photos of the scene.
Mr Moran pointed out the cell would have been master-locked after the prisoner’s death was confirmed with all subsequent visitors to the cell being logged.
The inquest heard the notes written by Mr Lee were placed in a sealed bag by a scene-of-crime garda by 9.30am.
Mr Moran said he would condemn the leaking of any sensitive material to the media.
The coroner observed that details about notes written by Mr Lee could only have been obtained in the space of around an hour by someone who was in the cell.
Mr Moran said prisoners do have access to "contraband" phones and it was possible that is how news of Mr Lee’s death became public.
However, he accepted that another prisoner could not have had access to the notes written by Mr Lee.
The assistant governor acknowledged that there were some shortcomings about the case including that Mr Lee was not checked every 15 minutes on the night of his death as required for prisoners under special observation.
The inquest heard the gap between checks ranged from eight to 62 minutes.
Mr Moran also accepted the bathroom had been a blind spot in the deceased’s cell for prison staff carrying out visual checks but said this had now been addressed with the installation of a mirror.
The inquest heard Mr Lee had been placed in a special observation cell on March 24, 2018 while being detained in Cloverhill Prison after "goodbye letters" and an improvised knife were found in his possession.
However, a consultant psychiatrist, Conor O’Neill, who examined him a few days later said the prisoner had not displayed any evidence of major mental illness and had consistently denied suicidal intent.
However, Dr O’Neill said he was assessed as having "potential for future risk."
Inspector Ken Hoare gave evidence that there had been no Garda investigation about the unauthorised release of details of the prisoner’s death as no formal complaint had been received.
However, Insp Hoare said he had visited the family on his own initiative because he realised the upset it had caused and "to attempt to repair some of the damage".
In reply to a question from the coroner, Insp Hoare said he did not regard Ms Lee’s concern as a complaint.
He stressed there was "absolutely" no way that contents of the notes would have been provided to the media by gardaí.
A jury of four men and three women returned a verdict of death by suicide.
Addressing the coroner after the verdict, Mr Lee’s sister, Norma, welcomed the fact that recommendations made by the Inspector of Prisons following an investigation into her brother’s death had been implemented.
If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this article please contact:
- Samaritans helpline 116 123
- Aware helpline 1800 80 48 48
- Pieta House on 1800 247 247
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