A North Yorkshire man was found dead in his prison cell shortly before he was due to receive a mandatory life sentence, an inquest has heard.

In Lukasz Lukasik’s cell was a piece of card with the words “bye, bye, everyone,” coroner James Hargan told the Hull inquest.

The Selby man was in a single cell in Hull Prison having been remanded in custody by York magistrates more than four months earlier and on arrival had indicated he knew he would receive a long sentence.

Mr Hargan told the inquest jury that Lukasik had appeared before Leeds Crown Court 13 days before his death.

“He pleaded guilty to offences which were going to result in a mandatory life sentence,” he said.

The jury would have to consider whether that fact had anything to do with Lukasik’s death, said Mr Hargan.

The jurors heard police evidence that a Humberside CID investigation had found no signs that anyone else had been involved in Lukasik’s death and had concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.

Gary Sword, head of residence and safety at the prison, said at the time, prisoners were kept in their cells for 23 hours out of 24 every day because of Covid restrictions.

He gave a series of ways in which prisoners could contact staff or other prisoners if they had mental health or other problems, including an alarm button in their cells.

He said Lukasik’s guilty pleas should have led to a review of his mental health assessment, but the prison was not told officially of them until after his death because they were made when he appeared via video link to Leeds Crown Court and not at one of the courts in Hull Prison’s area.

The inquest was told a prison officer sat in on the hearing tasked with telling the officer in charge of the video link section of the prison the outcome of the hearing. The officer who sat in could not remember the hearing, the inquest heard.

Lukasik, of Charles Street, Selby, was 36 when he died and had been in the UK for 17 years, the inquest heard.

Prison and health staff told the inquest how he was found immobile and unresponsive in his cell shortly after 5am on May 27, 2021. He was showing signs of rigor mortis and was so clearly dead that they did not attempt resuscitation.

Pathologist Christopher Johnson said, based on their observations, Lukasik had been dead for at least 30 minutes before he was found and probably “considerably longer”.

He conducted a post mortem on the body and said he couldn’t find any injuries inflicted by a third party or natural medical condition that contributed to the death.

Scientific tests revealed Lukasik had not taken alcohol or drugs.

Mr Hargan told the inquest Lukasik was arrested on December 29, 2020, and had apparently suffered a shoulder injury whilst in police custody.

He appeared before York magistrates and was remanded in custody on January 4, 2021.

Mr Sword said on arrival at Hull Prison, Lukasik went through a series of checks including physical and mental health checks, none of which revealed anything of concern.

There was no prison record of him behaving in a way that made staff concerned for his welfare during his time in the prison.

The inquest continues.

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