Mother of suicide inmate 'hopeful' for FAI outcome

The mother of Katie Allan says she has hope for the outcome of the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into her daughter's death.

Katie Allan, 21, and William Brown, also known as William Lindsay, were both found dead in their cells in separate incidents at Polmont Young Offenders Institution in 2018.

The inquiry has heard how both inmates were vulnerable while at Polmont.

It aims to establish whether their deaths could have been prevented.

Ms Allan, a student at the University of Glasgow, took her own life in June 2018 at Polmont while serving a 16-month sentence for a hit-and-run crash.

William took his own life in October 2018, four months after Ms Allan.

The 16-year-old had been remanded in custody after being deemed a "potential risk to public safety" three days before his death because there was no space in a children's secure unit.

Ms Allan had a history of self-harming which Polmont prison staff were not aware of. She had previously been referred to a community mental health team by her GP.

The inquiry at Falkirk Sheriff Court previously heard how Ms Allan was found to have traces of an antidepressant which was not prescribed to her during a post-mortem examination.

At a family visit the day before she died, her mother had told prison officers Ms Allan was being "berated" by other prisoners and was "terrified".

There were instances with other inmates leading up to her death which suggested she was being bullied.

Her mother Linda Allan said it "hadn't been easy" to sit through four weeks of evidence on the deaths.

"We always knew it would be a difficult process, made more so by the five-year wait," she said. "What we never anticipated was just how difficult it would be.

"We have listened to individual prison officers say that Katie was actually thriving in prison.

"They did not hear any bullying and saw no evidence of self-harm.

"We've also listened to legal representatives attempting to cast doubt on the same, which seems overwhelmingly cruel."

She criticised the "inadequacies of the prison suicide strategy, which apparently ignores evidence" and "the flawed system of relying on prisoners self-reporting suicide ideation".

She added: "But we've also heard a few prison officers and NHS staff admit to their responsibility."

Ms Allan criticised the outcomes of recent FAIs into suicides within the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) which found "no defects, precautions or recommendations - there was nothing to see, or nothing to be done."

"Yet despite this, we are meant to have hope in this FAI process," she said. "And we do.

"We have nothing left to lose. Our daughter is dead, and she died as William did in the care of the SPS and NHS.

"Katie and William will not ever again be part of anyone's lives. No FAI determination will ever change that fact."

On the last day of evidence, the former deputy governor of Polmont said social workers said William should absolutely not have been in custody in the review of his death.

Natalie Beal said that, in her opinion, 16 and 17-year-olds should not be put into a custodial setting.

William, who had been in care repeatedly, died three days after being admitted as there was no space in a children's secure unit.

The inquiry previously heard how William was placed on suicide observations every 30 minutes when he entered Polmont "for reassurance and safety".

In the social work review, nothing was recorded regarding the five-minute case conference where William was removed from suicide observations two days before he died.

In a statement outside court, the solicitor representing both families, Aamer Anwar, said they wanted First Minister Humza Yousaf and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to work to remove Crown immunity.

Currently, the SPS is exempt from prosecution for the deaths.

He said the Crown Office told the families there was "credible and reliable evidence" to pursue a case against the SPS over the deaths, but Crown immunity prevented them from doing so.

He said Crown immunity "gives the SPS effectively a license to kill".

Mr Anwar said the families were "conscious that an FAI by its very nature cannot proportion blame."

"There was nothing inevitable about the suicides of Katie or William," he said. "It was clear to anyone that cared to look that they were vulnerable and at risk of taking their own lives."

He added: "For the families of Katie and William, their cries for help went unheard by the SPS which operates in a culture of impunity and arrogance."