Dead prisoner ‘found bound to bed’

A PRISONER was found dead in his cell bound to his bed by a complex series of knots, an inquest heard yesterday.

John McGrath, 49, was also discovered with a plastic bag around his mouth, pieces of the bag up his nose and shoelaces tied around his neck, the day before he was due to go on trial for sex offences.

Belfast Coroner John Leckey told a jury the circumstances of McGrath’s death in Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, raised questions as to whether his wounds were self-inflicted or whether there was a more sinister explanation.

Deputy state pathologist Dr Alistair Bentley said the evidence suggested the remand prisoner took his own life on December 12, 2004, by pulling himself down his bed by his ankles, tightening the ligature around his neck. But he said it was “impossible to exclude” the theory that a third party had assisted McGrath.