A REPORT into the death of a man who cut his throat while on trial for murder has finally been published, more than three years after his death.

Russell Yeates was on trial for the murder of his wife, Debbie Smith, in January 2009.

But the 49-year-old, formerly of Cuddesdon Road, Horspath, was found dead in his cell at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, by prison officers on January 9, 2009.

The inquest into the death of Mr Yeates was held in November last year. But the report into his death by the prisons and probation ombudsman, although completed by February 2010, was not made public until this week.

In her report, deputy prisons and probation ombudsman Jane Webb made a series of recommendations.

She said: “As a consequence of his circumstances, the man was a prisoner at high risk of harming himself. However, from the nurse’s assessment of his general demeanour at the time, I do not believe his death could have been reasonably predicted by staff at Bullingdon.”

When Yeates was first admitted to prison after the murder of Ms Smith in Wheatley in 2008, he was placed on suicide watch but spent the last six months of his life on a regular unit. A suicide self-harm warning had been raised following comments made by the prisoner in court, but after an interview with a nurse, it was concluded that no further action needed to be taken.

The recommendations from the report included that prisoners alleged to have committed a violent murder, who have violently attempted to take their own life and who express suicidal ideas should be referred to the forensic psychiatry team.

Other recommendations included the governor of the prison reminding staff of the importance of treating documents with care, completing various observation books and ‘wing history sheets’.

The prison was also told to look at some of its night-time procedures, including making sure all staff working during the night knew of their roles and responsibilities, in particularly regarding going into cells in the event of an emergency, and for the night instructions to be reviewed.

A spokesman for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said it was not allowed to publish the report until an inquest had been held.

Ms Webb said particular attention should be focused on procedures relating to the discovery of a death or suspected death, when a cell can be unlocked and the staffing level required to do so.

A spokesman for the National Offender Management Service said: “All recommendations made by the prisons and probation ombudsman in the report have been accepted or partially accepted and we are working to ensure they are all acted upon.”