LONDON—An inquest into the death of a murder suspect who was found hanged in London’s Belmarsh prison while on remand has heard from his sister how he had phoned her after his arrest and told her he was “innocent” and would clear his name.
Liridon Saliuka, 29, was found hanged in his cell at Belmarsh prison on Jan. 2, 2020, six months after he was first remanded in custody for murder.
His sister Dita Saliuka told London Inner South Coroner’s Court on Monday, “He was loving, affectionate, and funny and loved spending time with people.”
But she said Saliuka was almost killed in a car accident in January 2019 and was taken to hospital by air ambulance and needed a series of operations to save his life and his mobility.
In July 2019 Saliuka had been charged with the murder of Grineo Daka and his sister said he was not allowed to call his family for the first three weeks he was in prison.
“When he called me he said, ‘I’m innocent, I’ve done nothing wrong and I want to come home.’ He said he was coming home as soon as he could clear his name,” Dita Saliuka told the inquest.
The first witness at the inquest was prison officer James Whitbread, who was in charge of Houseblock 4, the part of the jail at Belmarsh where Saliuka was detained pending his trial.
Whitbread gave evidence about the day Saliuka died.
He said in the morning Saliuka had argued with another prisoner—who had been given the task of cleaning his cell—and had his lunch brought to him in his cell to prevent him approaching the other inmate.
Whitbread said Saliuka had barged past two prison officers and started walking down the landing, so he had to be “restrained” by several officers and locked in his cell.
Later an officer came to bring him his dinner in his cell but noticed the curtains were closed, the light was off, and the cell was in darkness.
Whitbread said he shone a torch into the cell and could see Saliuka kneeling on the floor, as if he was looking out of the window, with his head covered by the curtain.
Prison Officer Feared Being ‘Lured’ Into an Attack
The coroner, Philip Barlow, asked him why he did not immediately enter the cell.Whitbread said: “My worry was that he was trying to lure us into the cell so he could attack us. There had been a warning that he was a potential hostage-taker.”
He said he gathered up three other prison officers and they entered the cell.
Whitbread said of Saliuka: “He didn’t move. When the curtain was moved away I could see a dressing gown cord around his neck and tied to the bars on the window.”
He said Saliuka was cut down but added, “His body leaned back and I remember it was immediately obvious to me that he was dead.”
Whitbread said a Code Blue was called, signifying an inmate who was “dead or unconscious,” and then a colleague attempted CPR on Saliuka but it was “ultimately unsuccessful.”
Jamie Burton, KC, counsel for the Saliuka family, asked about the prisoner’s physical and mental health in the lead-up to his death.
Earlier Whitbread said Saliuka used the gym a lot and this made him doubt he was as “disabled” as he claimed to be, but Burton asked the officer if he knew that Saliuka used the gym to work on the injuries he had suffered in the car crash.
Whitbread said: “I don’t know what he used in the gym. But he was quite a big character. It’s not as if he was wasting away. He was a stocky individual.”
Saliuka on Anti-Depressants
Whitbread said that, as a Category A prisoner on remand, Saliuka was supposed to be moved cell every three months.He said on Dec. 27, 2019 Saliuka refused to be moved to the standard cell and was put on report for disobeying a “lawful order.”
Whitbread said he was ordered to be put on “basic regime,” which meant removing his television and restricting his time out of the cell.
Four days later he relented and agreed to move cell.
Burton asked him if he was aware Saliuka had told his sister in a phone call: “I give up. Mentally, I can’t take it. I can’t do this. It’s too much for me.”
Whitbread said he was not aware of the conversation and said: “He did not say to me he was mentally struggling. If I thought he was struggling I would have put him on an ACCT.”
ACCT, or Assessment, Care in Custody, and Teamwork, is a process under which certain prisoners are monitored more often to prevent suicide and self-harm.
Burton asked him if he was aware Saliuka was on anti-depressants and may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and whether it would have influenced his decision not to put him on ACCT.
Whithead said he was not aware and said: “It may have changed things. But I wasn’t aware.”
He was then questioned by Alex Ustych, a barrister representing the Prison Service.
Ustych asked, “Is there a difference between being depressed about being in prison and being at risk of suicide or self-harm?”
“Yes. Massive difference,” replied Whitbread.
The inquest is due to last for several weeks.
In May 2021 Jeton Krasniqi, 27, was convicted of Grineo Daka’s murder at the Phoenix snooker club and he was jailed for life.
