A prisoner found dead in her cell at HMP Grampian hours after a court appearance had been suffering from heart disease, an inquiry has found.
Tracey Aird was found unresponsive in her Peterhead jail cell just hours after she had appeared virtually for a court hearing.
But after the 47-year-old was found unconscious on the floor, on July 27 2021, prison officers were unable to save her.
A fatal accident inquiry into Ms Aird’s death in custody has now ruled out any suggestion of deliberate overdose or suicide and concluded she died due to “nefopam toxicity and cardiac enlargement”.
Heart issue and drug toxicity found
The inquiry, heard before Sheriff Christine McCrossan at Peterhead Sheriff Court, heard how Ms Aird had been remanded in custody after appearing on a warrant for an alleged knife attack.
She had been prescribed 30mg of painkiller nefopam three times a day for a previous coccyx injury, starting that course after she was first remanded and two months before her death.
A post-mortem however found a “higher than expected” concentration of the drug in her body.
It also found that the “potentially significant natural disease of the heart” could have caused a potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythm.
Concerns raised over bullying
The court heard how Ms Aird’s sister had raised concerns with the Scottish Prison Service that Aird was the victim of bullying.
It had been alleged that Aird had been selling the drug but the service did not consider this credible.
It was also alleged that Aird’s medication was being stolen from her cell, food was being thrown at her and she was having issues with other prisoners due to her use of the phone.
However, the inquiry found no evidence of this and there was no finding that Ms Aird deliberately overdosed on nefopam.
Had appeared in ‘good mood’
On the day of her death, Aird had participated in a virtual court hearing and although she was in a “good mood”, she told staff she’d had an issue with another inmate.
An argument had occurred in the prison’s Banff Hall, which ended in both parties apologising. Ms Aird was last seen safe and alone in her cell around noon.
But at around 2.20pm another prisoner who had been carrying out cleaning duties discovered her lying on her cell floor and staff efforts to save her were to no avail.
After hearing evidence from multiple parties, Sheriff McCrossan deemed there were no extra measures that could have been taken by staff to prevent the tragic death.
Death was a ‘tragedy’
She said: “A Code Blue alarm was raised by the first prison officer on the scene. Medical staff attended from the health centre. Ms Aird was not breathing and she was unresponsive. Attempts were made to resuscitate her to no avail.”
The Scottish Prison Service and NHS Scotland carried out a joint review following Ms Aird’s death.
Her sister questioned how the high concentration of medication in her system had come about and whether bullying accusations were taken seriously.
The sheriff added: “Whilst she had on that day reported bullying there was no indication from her recent interactions with staff that this was causing such distress that it would lead to her taking her own life.”
She added that Ms Aird “may have developed a high tolerance” to her painkillers but it appeared “she was not taking the medication in accordance with the prescription”.
“There is no evidence to suggest this is a situation which should have been anticipated by Scottish Prison Service or NHS staff,” she added.
Sheriff McCrossan described Ms Aird’s death as a “tragedy” for her family and friends and praised prison staff’s “valiant attempts” to save her life.
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