Prison officer Joseph Travers is accused of leaving a suicidal inmate with a noose. The prisoner was later found dead
A prison officer accused of leaving a suicidal inmate with a noose today insisted he would have taken it away from the man if he had seen it.
Joseph Travers, 55, was allegedly told Ryan Harvey, 23, had the noose before he took his life at HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, Bucks, in May 2015.
Mr Harvey was considered a risk and had already been found with a noose around his neck the day before his death, the Old Bailey heard.
But giving evidence Travers denied claims his colleague Alison Barton had told him he had a noose in his cell.
Travers denied he was told by another colleague that she had seen him attaching a sheet to the window.
He said he had briefly chatted to Harvey on the night of the incident about moving him off the wing, before increasing his observations to twice hourly.
‘If I had known he had a noose I certainly would have asked him for it,’ he said.
Prosecuting, Duncan Braithwaite QC said: ‘Did you not ask why the healthcare team were here? Why do the entire healthcare team need to be here?’
Ryan Harvey was considered a risk and had already been found with a noose around his neck the day before his death, the Old Bailey heard
‘I didn’t ask,’ responded Travers.
Mr Braithwaite responded: ‘Or was it that you knew that they were there because there had been a radio message about a noose?’
Travers again insisted this was not true but conceded he should have asked about the decision to put Harvey ‘on an act’ – an order given for patients who are suicidal.
He then agreed it would have been useful to know why Mr Harvey was ‘on an act’ but admitted he had not asked to see it.
Mr Braithwaite questioned why he raised his observation period to twice hourly if Mr Harvey was not considered at risk of self harm.
Travers replied: ‘I raised them because she (Ms Barton) had raised concerns.’
Joseph Travers, 55, was allegedly told Ryan Harvey, 23, had the noose before he took his life at HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, Bucks, in May 2015
Mr Braithwaite then said Travers had said most people looking to harm themselves were ‘seeking to manipulate the system’. He asked if he would have done more if he had known about the noose.
Travers replied: ‘I certainly would have spent more time with him.’
‘I’m comfortable with my decision,’ he added.
Travers earlier rejected a claim he could not be bothered to enter Harvey’s cell.
He said: ‘It’s just not true. I wouldn’t invite all this, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t invite a prison investigation, coroner’s report, you just wouldn’t.
‘I wasn’t in a rush, it was the weekend. I didn’t have anything to rush for or to worry about.’
Travers, whose address is given as HMP Woodhill, denies manslaughter by gross negligence.
He is also faces an alternative charge of misconduct in a public office.
The trial continues.
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