A woman who drove 60 miles to prison to prevent her husband from hanging himself was unable to alert prison staff in time because both the intercom and phone line were broken, a coroner has ruled.
The prison’s governor has been asked to respond to Mr Furniss’s report by April 21 2025 with details of action taken or proposed action to be taken.
Instead, she drove for two hours from Cambridge to Wormwood Scrubs where she banged on the main gate for some time, calling out and pressing a buzzer which promised to connect her to an intercom through which she could speak to prison staff.
Mr Furniss ruled “there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken” by the governor of Wormwood Scrubs, Amy Frost.
She, Cambridgeshire Police and the Metropolitan Police were all unable to contact the prison by telephone to warn them because “calls were being diverted to an unmanned or obsolete number”.
