Former IRA prisoner "impulsively" took his own life

By Q Radio News

A former IRA prisoner "impulsively" took his own life three minutes after he was left alone in a police station in Northern Ireland, a coroner said.

John Brady, 40, died through hanging in an empty consultation room at Strand Road barracks in Londonderry in October 2009.

His solicitor John Finucane had just told him he was to be charged with an offence following an altercation with his brother-in-law.

Mr Finucane had left the room to talk to police. When Mr Finucane returned, his client had killed himself, a court heard.

Coroner Joe McCrisken said there had been failings in Mr Brady's treatment by police.

The officer in charge of the police custody suite thought he was in a cell when he was in a consultation room alone, the coroner told the dead man's family at Omagh courthouse in Co Tyrone.

Coroner McCrisken said: "It seems to me that he acted impulsively having been told of the decision to charge, potentially having spent a short time ruminating about a further period of time in prison.

"I have said this before in other inquests, but it always bears repeating: suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

He said Mr Brady was arrested in a proportionate fashion and properly assessed as being of low risk.

The coroner added: "Certain steps were taken to protect Mr Brady while he was in custody but there was a critical failure to supervise him properly when he was placed into a consultation room after the decision to charge was taken."