North Shields man, 26, died four days after release from HMP Hull
by Nicole Goodwin · ChronicleLiveA 26-year-old died just four days after his release from prison, a report into his death revealed.
Ben Skivington, from North Shields, was confirmed dead after being rushed to hospital in the early hours of October 2, 2022. An inquest into his death, held on October 17 this year found he had died of multi-drug toxicity.
A Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) report published this week said Skivington arrived home with a large quantity of prescription drugs on the evening of October 1, 2022 - many of which had already been taken. He had an argument with his wife about the drugs and went up to his bedroom before taking the remainder of the drugs.
When his wife went to the bedroom at around 2.30am she thought her husband was sleeping before she noticed he was not breathing. She called an ambulance and attempted CPR but he was later pronounced dead, the PPO report said.
The report added that Skivington had a history of drug taking and had told the reception nurse that he smoked heroin and crack cocaine and occasionally took benzodiazepines. However, he showed some willingness to address this during his 12 week sentence for driving while disqualified.
On August 25, 2022, Skivington told a GP that he wanted to rapidly detox off the methadone he had been prescribed in prison, before his release. The GP tried to get Skivington to recognise the dangers of doing this, and he said he would think about it overnight.
By his release on September 29, Skivington had become drug free. But the next day he tested positive for drugs, resulting in a referral to community drugs services. This was not actioned before his death, the report added.
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