Inmates are found hanged together in double cell

Police are investigating the deaths of two prisoners who were found hanged in the same cell yesterday. The men were discovered by a prison officer when he opened the cell after 6am. They were suspended from ligatures made from bed sheets tied to the bars of their double cell at Leicester Prison.

Police are investigating the deaths of two prisoners who were found hanged in the same cell yesterday. The men were discovered by a prison officer when he opened the cell after 6am. They were suspended from ligatures made from bed sheets tied to the bars of their double cell at Leicester Prison.

Farouk Nasri, 54, of Tottenham, north London, was on remand to Nottingham Crown Court waiting for his trial for murder. Carl Jacques, 23, of Derby, was serving four months for theft after being sentenced on 9 March.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "There is no immediate evidence that [the deaths are] suspicious but the police will need to rule that out."

Such double deaths of cell mates are very rare but not unprecedented. Two prisoners were found hanged in a cell in Brixton prison, south London, in December.

The bodies in Leicester were found at 6.20am by a prison officer when the cell door was unlocked. The men were pronounced dead at 6.58am by a prison medical officer.

The service also announced that an inmate serving more than five years for burglary was found hanged at Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight. Michael McCarthy, 22, was discovered at 6.10am in the healthcare unit at the category B jail.

A record 91 inmates died in prisons in England and Wales last year. The service has begun internal inquiries into both the Leicester and Parkhurst incidents.