This was the case with Wesley McGoldrick, who was caught shoplifting cheese and milk from a London branch of Sainsbury's on Saturday 16 April 2005.

When he admitted also carrying a knife, the 24-year-old was arrested and charged. As he had no fixed address to be bailed to, after a weekend in a police station he was remanded into custody at Brixton Prison.

By the Tuesday afternoon, less than a day after his arrival at the jail, he was dead, having used bed sheets to hang himself from the bars of his cell window.

He was the 21st person to kill himself in prison in England and Wales that year. Another 57 were to follow.

The Prison Service says it is "completely committed to reducing the number of such tragic incidents" but a combination of circumstances make this a difficult task.

He was a real person and was my son but while they're in prison they're nothing, they're just a number Gina Webb, Wesley McGoldrick's mother

The set of factors that surrounded Wesley's death are "sadly all too common" according to Deborah Coles, co-director of Inquest, a pressure group which provides support to families in deaths in custody cases.

He was a young male who had recently been remanded into a local prison - features which "are well known to the prison authorities for being over-represented for the number of people dying," she said.

Almost a third of suicides occur within the first week of someone arriving in custody and one in seven is within 48 hours.

Remand prisoners are likely to be placed in a local jail, many of which are overcrowded and may lack the staff or resources to provide intensive support for new inmates.

'Found dead'

The first Wesley's mother, Gina Webb, knew of her son's death was when her daughter turned up on her doorstep in the early hours of the morning, flanked by two police officers and sobbing hysterically.

The only information the officers had was that Wesley had been "found dead" - at that point neither Gina nor the police knew he was in jail.

"I had nothing to go on, just that one statement thrown in my face," she said.

"'Where did it happen? How did it happen? Was it an accident? Was he murdered?' It didn't matter what I asked, the answer was 'Sorry, we don't know'."

It was another day before she found out what had happened and a further day before she could identify the body.

'Signs of paranoia'

Once a keen athlete and footballer, Wesley had drifted into homelessness in his early 20s.

He had taken catering work with live-in positions but couldn't settle and the nature of his work meant that if he lost a job he also lost his home. His mother says she begged him to come back to the family home in Ruislip, Middlesex, but he would not.

PRISON SUICIDES 2005 78 deaths in England and Wales 8 deaths in Scotland (2004/05) 37% on remand awaiting trial 12 were under 21 years of age Youngest was 16 Four were women 80% were in local prisons 131 people resuscitated after acts of self harm Source: Howard League Full list of the 78 who died

He was sleeping rough at the time of his arrest and Gina suspects he "wanted to get caught so he would have a roof over his head for the weekend".

Evidence heard at the inquest into Wesley's death indicated he had mental health issues. Gina believes her son's crime and his last desperate act were "a cry for help".

Officers at Kennington police station, where he was taken on his arrest, were sufficiently concerned about his state of mind to call a doctor who noted "signs of increasing paranoia".

However, the doctor's note was not seen by anyone at Brixton prison, the inquest heard.

An investigation recommended changes in procedure at Brixton

Staff there said they judged Wesley's mental state based on conversations with him and the answers he gave to a medical questionnaire.

Neither gave any cause for alarm, they said, even though he admitted self harming previously.

Under the prison's own procedures this meant he should have been referred for a mental health assessment but this did not happen and he was not placed on suicide watch.

An investigation by the prison ombudsman recommended that mental health assessment training at Brixton was tightened up.

The governor of the prison, John Podmore, said "all prisoners undergo a comprehensive screening process" which "examines all aspects of mental and physical health as well as drug and alcohol issues".

He added: "We are working hard... to provide the highest standards of care for prisoners and continually looking to see how that provision can be improved.

"Tragedies such as the death of Mr McGoldrick cause us to look even harder particularly in the light of reports emanating from these events... our sympathies once again go to the family of Mr McGoldrick."

Fall in suicide rate

Suicide and self harm is recognised as one of the toughest challenges facing the prison service. A study in the Lancet found the male suicide rate in prison was five times that in the general community.

The 2004-05 annual report from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons observed: "The pressure of population, the reactive culture in some prisons and the vulnerability of many of those in prison, will continue to make it difficult for prisons properly to protect those in their care."

But some headway does appear to be being made: the total number of suicides fell last year from 95 in 2004 to 78, a welcome drop after three years of record levels of self-inflicted deaths.

It comes as prisons are beginning to implement a new system known as ACCT - assessment, care in custody and teamwork - which replaces the old suicide watch forms and is designed to be more focussed on the individual.

In addition, a new health screening process has been set up that is designed to detect mental health issues on arrival into custody.

Many jails now have several "safer cells" designed to be as free from potential ligature points as possible.

And the majority of prisons also run Listener schemes in which Samaritans-trained prisoners provide 24-hour confidential support to other inmates.

Prevention measures

A Home Office spokesman said "Every death in custody is a terrible tragedy for the families left behind and also has a profound effect on staff and other prisoners.

"The government takes the issue of suicide in prisons very seriously and, in the face of population pressures, suicide prevention efforts have continued with unprecedented energy and commitment."

But Gina Webb is still angry at a system which she believes failed Wesley.

"He was a real person and was my son - they all belong to somebody, they're somebody's husband or somebody's son. But while they're in prison they're nothing, they're just a number," she said.

"What ever reason they're in there for, they're in there. The state has a duty to care for the people they're supposedly looking after and quite frankly they haven't done it."

To all of you out there who want to know about Wesley
and how he has come to no longer be here.

I have been putting this off for some time now, not knowing how to say it or how to explain it, to myself and to everyone else. I want to thank each and every one of you who have lit candles (some of you on a regular basis, some of you practically every day) and for all the tributes and messages. You cannot know how much all this has meant to me. I was worried that in time he may be forgotten, but I need not worry because he is thought of every single day, not a day goes by without someone lighting a candle or sending a message to him or to me. Thank you so much for all this, it's you out there that has kept me going all this time.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH


WESLEY ROY

Wesley is my youngest child of 3, he has an older brother Greg and an older sister Claire. He also has a beautiful neice, Kai, who is now almost 6 years old.

After attending Whiteheath Infant school and taking part in all the sports days and coming 1st in all he did he went on to Whiteheath Junior school and continued to do the same there, also running for the school, the borough etc.
Although his brother and sister went on to the same Senior school, I decided that as Wesley was so into his sports to send him to a different one, so he went to Queensmead Senior school as it catered for sport in a big way.
Yet again he came 1st in all he did, again running and playing football for the school, the county, the borough. He was a brilliant all round athlete. The love of his life being Liverpool football club, which in turn caused a subject of debate between him and his brother....Greg always said "if you are going to support a football club then it has to be one of the London clubs, because that's where we live, How can you support a club that is at the other end of the country"...but Wesley would have none of it and continued to support Liverpool no matter what anyone thought....so he did.

Wesley knew everybody and everybody knew Wesley.
 He was such a popular person.

But even though he was popular, deep down he was a very quiet guy.
Very loving.....

After leaving school he drifted in and out of work, staying here and staying there.
That was the end of the sport but he continued to follow Liverpool.
He left home, carried on drifting from one job to the next but it didn't always work out and I found out that sometimes between jobs he would be sleeping rough.
But he always managed to fend for himself and was determined not to ask for help from anyone, including me.
 Although I carried on seeing him at regular intervals and gave him food and money when he needed it, he still wouldn't come home........
so stubborn!

For a quite a while before last April (2005)
he was still homeless and drifting around and there was less and less work for him, which obviously led to some sort of depression.
(I think anyone in that situation is entitled to be a little down or depressed)
I tried to force his hand to come home. I would leave the back door open for him every night in the hope he'd come in to sleep, he knew this but still never took up the chance. Instead he carried on in his own way.....
not wanting to bother me, or others with his problems....

On the Saturday before he died, he went into a supermarket in London and stole some cheese to eat. He was hungry, he got caught and the police arrived to take him away.Though not for the fact that he had stolen but more so for the fact that there was a knife in his pocket. He did not show anyone the knife, didn't brandish it about or threaten anyone with it, it was for self protection while he was sleeping rough...to frighten of anyone who might come near. He has never hurt a living soul before, even though others have hurt him in the past, he never had it in him to harm anyone or anything.

On arrival at the police station, he began asking for help and suggested he should be sent to prison for a long time.
He stayed there all weekend til it was time to go to court on the monday morning. One young police officer was worried for Wesley and got him checked out by a doctor. He then befriended Wesley, talking to him and generally looking after him. He even took him to the police kitchen and cooked him something to eat, when he should really have been locked up in his cell til monday....
not the actions of a regular police guy......so you see, he was no harm to anyone.

Monday morning
Wesley went to court and the courts decided that he should go to
 BRIXTON PRISON
for 7 days
so he went.......

.......BRIXTON PRISON........

The 1st thing that happens when you arrive is that you are checked out by medical staff, forms filled in etc.etc.
Now they knew that the police had concerns about Wesley, enough to call in a doctor and have him checked out, but the prison did not take this into account. Also he answered a questionaire at Brixton regarding his health.
This questionarie states that if "box 12" has been ticked then this guy needs to be put on an "F2052SH"...this to you and me means a suicide watch, just in case.This never happened and Wesley was left to his own devices in his cell.

Bear in mind that he is only going to be in there for 7 days.
(Statistics show that if anything is likely to happen that it will in the 1st week for most, or in the 1st month, therefore an "F2052SH" is imperitive!)

Bear in mind, also, that Wesley obviously stole on purpose. With the intention of getting caught, knowing he would be in the police station all weekend.
This was, he would be guarenteed a roof over his head for at least a couple of nights. Whilst there he began asking for help.
He also asked for help at Brixton and this was ignored.
Principally by the medical staff when he arrived because they were not bothered with him, in fact, they were not even properly qualified to be doing the job they were in (as was proven at Wesleys 5 day inquest).

Right, so he has now arrived in his cell in the prison and it is approximately
 7 or 8 pm .

The following day......
Two inmates heard someone calling out for help, about the time everyone had got their lunch and were locked up in their cells again.
They alerted the nearby guard, who said he heard nothing, therefore nothing was done about it and nobody went to investigate.

Wesley knew that lunch was for 1 hour, then his cell would be unlocked.
But that particular day, there was a delay in opening the cells.
When they did.....
they found Wesley......my son.....
hanging from the bars of his cell...................

This was yet another cry for help
nobody listened
Wesley died

Wesley used a towel to protect and cushion his neck, something not normally done in this situation. He thought he would be saved in time....
He thought wrong!
They didn't even bother to call emergency services straight away.
Some witness accounts said he was already cold,
some say he was still warm
He could of
He should of 
been saved.

He was put into the care of the state
the state let him down right from the beginning
He died by the Hands of the State!!!

The Chaplain and the Governor of Brixton prison
(by the way, a very notorious prison)
apologised for the death and told me they were shocked as this sort of thing
never happens, it is very rare.....

It is NOT rare!!
76 new inmates did the self same thing last year alone!!
That is more than one person per week!!
(Most, in the 1st week or so of entering prison)
So far this year (2006) it's still at a rate of one per week or more!!

Wesley was in there for just 18 hours


A  5 day inquest by jury was held in London last week
they returned an OPEN verdict.
Meaning they couldn't decide whether or not they thought Wesley meant to go through this act deliberately,
or whether it was a cry for help, therefore an accident, even though most of the evidence pointed that way.........

In 27 days time, Wesley will have been gone for 1 year
and in all that time,
 not one person, apart from myself has accepted or admitted any liability.

Shame on the Prison service!!!

I sincerely hope that it never happens to someone belonging to them!!

To anyone who has taken the trouble to read this far...
Thank you so much for your patience......

WESLEY....ONE OF A KIND