A deputy prison governor told a fatal accident inquiry yesterday that press reports of an Aberdeen teenager’s court case had helped trigger his suicide in a Scottish jail.
Heather Keir, now retired from the Scottish Prison Service, said she listened to harrowing phone calls made by Raygen Merchant, 17, before he hanged himself in his cell at Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution.
She was adamant that “media reporting was one of the most significant factors”.
Mrs Keir, 61, added she co-chaired a Death In Prison Learning Review into Mr Merchant’s death, alongside a “very experienced NHS psychiatrist”, in January 2015, three months after the tragedy.
She argued both herself and the NHS psychiatrist, Dr Rhona Morrison, thought that an article which suggested his crime had “a sexual element” had been a factor in his decision to kill himself.
She said: “I personally listened to the last phone calls he made, and they were also transcribed, and there is no doubt it was clearly causing him a huge amount of distress.
“In Raygen’s mind, to be labelled as a sex offender was one step too far.”
Mrs Keir added Mr Merchant had been “a violent and difficult young man”.
But her review found that “newspaper reporting of his crime, anniversaries of deaths, and the content of telephone calls with his sister and girlfriend immediately prior to his death were contributing factors”.
The inquiry was read excerpts of the two last phone calls Mr Merchant had with his girlfriend, Lizzie Milne, in which he expressed despair at the contents of certain newspaper reports.
Mrs Keir also revealed his body had been left hanging for “several hours” after his death on October 17, 2014.
She said: “Most staff including myself found distaste at the fact that the body was left hanging for such a long time.”
She blamed “the police service and their systems” for the situation.
Sheriff John Mundy adjourned the inquiry at lunchtime.
