Jail's 'obsolete' fire system flagged before death

Concerns about a prison's "obsolete" fire alarms were raised months before an inmate died following a fire in her cell, an inquest has heard.

Clare Dupree, 48, from Cardiff, died in December 2022, two days after the blaze, which was started by a vape at HMP Eastwood Park in Falfield, South Gloucestershire.

Speaking at the inquest into her death at Avon Coroner's Court, Peter Heyworth, from the prison, said the jail had been bidding for money to upgrade the fire detection system after an inspection found the fire panel in Dupree's block was "obsolete".

Barrister Nick Armstrong, representing the family, said: "All the things you rely on for the protection of life, there are issues with."

Armstrong told the inquest that regulations state an inmate should be removed from their cell within 20 minutes of a fire or the cell should be ventilated.

The court heard it took 33 minutes from fire detection to Dupree being removed from her cell.

Heyworth said that when he arrived at the blazing cell, the door handle was too hot to touch.

Heyworth, the prison's head of drug strategy and complex care, said an inspection into the fire detection equipment was carried out in February 2022, which found it needed upgrading.

Despite this, he told Armstrong: "I did not believe Residential Block Six was unsafe to have women on."

The fire is thought to have been started by a vape sold at the prison canteen.

Heyworth was asked by Armstrong: "You're in a building with no automatic fire detection, vapes, and inmates with erratic behaviour and an obsolete fire panel. What's happening?"

Heyworth replied: "I don't remember any conversations about removing vapes. Women rely on vapes."

Pathologist Dr Russell Delaney told the inquest on Thursday that Dupree died from a hypoxic ischemic brain injury – when the brain does not receive enough oxygen and blood flow is too low – and a lower respiratory tract infection.

It is not clear whether earlier removal from her cell would have improved her chances of survival, he added.

The inquest began on Thursday and is expected to last for several weeks.

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