A PAEDOPHILE priest who died in custody did not receive medication in prison following an admission to hospital three weeks before his death, an inquest heard.
The Reverend Christopher Howarth, who was an inmate at HMP Lewes, died on March 10 last year at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
The 72-year-old was serving a ten-year sentence after he was convicted in 2015 for sexually abusing two boys he had met through his work at Holy Trinity Church in Uckfield.
At the inquest into his death, which began yesterday at Sussex County Cricket Ground, the court heard Mr Howarth had been taken to hospital on Christmas Day in 2019 as he was suffering with a shortness of breath and was struggling to move.
He had a morbidly high body mass index and was already suffering with several health issues associated with obesity, including type 2 diabetes, congested cardiac failure and chronic kidney disease.
In hospital Mr Howarth was diagnosed and treated for a serious skin infection, cellulitis, on his abdomen, with intravenous and oral antibiotics. He was seen by physiotherapists and occupational therapists and his mobility was reported to have improved.
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He was discharged on Monday, February 17, at 2.45pm, but was admitted to hospital again two days later due to another flare-up of cellulitis.
He died on March 10 and a provisional cause of death was given as multiple organ failure. Several conditions were listed as contributing factors, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension and relapsing intractable cellulitis.
The court heard he had not received his usual medication, including painkillers, on his return to Lewes Prison on February 17.
Speaking at the inquest, his wife Vivien said: “He phoned me on the day he was discharged in the evening of February 17.
“He was very distressed and in an awful lot of pain and had had none of his medication at all.
“He said when he left hospital he had been given pills and a discharge note so he could not understand why there was a delay.
“I think this needs dealing with for the future.”
Dr Bikram Raychaudri, a GP at Lewes Prison, said that normally a prescription and discharge summary is provided for nurses at the prison to check.
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He said: “Medication goes to the pharmacy if it is open and the documents should be given to nurses or the heath care department. That is what you would expect to happen.”
Senior coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said she was satisfied the missed medication “did not affect the outcome” of Mr Howarth’s death, but said lessons could be learned.
She said: “If you prescribe medication at certain times of the day you want him to have them.
“It was not a weekend. There should be a system in place at the prison for people to get their medication. It is just as important as a verbal handover.”
The inquest continues.
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