A man accused of a string of sex attacks killed himself because he could not face life in prison, an inquest jury heard yesterday.

Rashid Kausmally was found dead with a plastic bag over his head in his cell at Lewes prison.

He was on remand after being charged by detectives hunting the man responsible for two rapes and a string of knifepoint robberies on women in Brighton and Hove.

An inquest jury at Lewes was told Kausmally had previously served 18 months for a sexual attack on a woman.

He was a drug abuser who blew £16,000 on his habit and withdrew up to £400 a day from his building society account to buy drugs.

Kausmally, 49, of Bear Road, Brighton, was a qualified psychiatric nurse but was struck off after he was convicted.

He suffered from Parkinson's disease and had been treated as an in-patient at psychiatric hospitals in Hove and Haywards Heath.

The inquest heard he had told relatives and doctors he would kill himself rather than suffer a lingering death as a result of Parkinson's.

A statement was read by his older brother Majid Kausmally.

He said his brother had taken a drugs overdose and had slashed his arms and legs with a knife in a suicide bid after being released from prison last year.

He said he went to stay with him in London during Christmas and New Year but did not return after going out for a prescription on January 2.

Kausmally phoned his brother on January 11 to say he had been arrested and was at Edmonton police station in north London.

His brother said: "Rashid told me he was facing a life sentence. He said he would take his own life rather than face that."

Kausmally was brought to Brighton and remanded in custody to Lewes prison where he was found dead in his cell eight days later.

Coroner Alan Craze made an order preventing identification of Kausmally's estranged partner and their adult son.

He also ordered that four prisoners who gave evidence either in person or in writing should not be identified.

Kausmally's partner said they had been apart for 15 years but she still saw him and spoke to him regularly until his death.

She said: "Last summer, he tried to take his own life because of the Parkinson's. He did not want to lose his independence and dignity.

"He was transferred to Mill View hospital and The Priory Clinic and he became a bit institutionalised."

Elaine Markandoo, unit manager at The Priory, said: "He had a history of hypersexual activity against women while he was at Hurstwood Park hospital in Haywards Heath. Female staff would only go into his room in pairs."

The jury was shown details of the charges Kausmally faced but was warned by the coroner not to draw conclusions from the charges as he had not been tried or convicted of them.

Kausmally was moved to a single cell two days before he killed himself. He had put a white plastic bag over his head and pathologist Dr Kirkham confirmed he died from asphyxiation.

The inquest continues today.