Inverness fatal accident inquiry hears prisoner from Alness expressed suicidal thoughts
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The inquiry into the death of Zach Banner was adjourned on its first day after new evidence emerged suggesting this information had not been passed on to authorities.
Depute fiscal Geoff Main told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood yesterday that some of the information was only disclosed last week and that there may be some concern about its significance.
He told Inverness Sheriff Court it appeared that, when Mr Banner was in police custody, he told a mental health nurse he would commit suicide if he was jailed – but that information seemed not to have been passed on.
Sheriff Fleetwood said he suspected that, if other witnesses were now being brought into the process, they would need to seek legal representation.
On that basis he discharged the inquiry until August 28.
Mr Banner (22), from Firhill in Alness, was remanded at HMP Porterfield in Inverness on December 29, 2017 and was found hanging in his cell at approximately 1.45am on January 1, 2018.
He was taken to Raigmore Hospital and pronounced dead on January 3.
