The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has ruled that no foul play was involved in an Aberdeen inmate’s death, despite claims he had been “terrorised” by a prison officer.
Raygen Merchant was found dead in his room at HMP Young Offenders Institute in Polmont in 2014.
He had been arrested after attacking a woman in front of her nine-year-old son in the Garthdee area of Aberdeen the previous year.
In a fatal accident inquiry determination published yesterday, Sheriff John K Mundy concluded that Mr Merchant decided to take his own life “as a result of his perception that others would consider him to be a sex offender”.
During the inquiry, the sheriff heard of an internal report warning that inmates were aware of claims that Merchant, from Aberdeen, had committed a sexually motivated attack.
And in his findings he said: “It is clear from the letters that he wrote and the transcripts of the telephone calls that being put in the category of a sex offender was for a step too far and something he could simply not tolerate.”
The sheriff disregarded the claim that the actions of prison staff led to the suicide, due to a lack of evidence, though former prison warden William Main had told the inquiry of bullying and of one Polmont officer in particular who had “stated his dislike” for Merchant.
Sheriff Mundy finished his determination by offering his condolences to Merchant’s family.
He said: “This is a very sad case.
“Raygen Merchant was 17-years-old when he died.
“He experienced a difficult family upbringing, was accommodated by the local authority and experienced significant family losses.
“He was a young man who had the propensity for violence but also, it would seem, the propensity to care deeply about others, notably those close to him.
“His death was a tragic but an ultimately unforeseeable event.”
