The European court of human rights has found that there was an excessive delay to an inquest into a Northern Ireland prisoner’s death at a top security jail.
The Strasbourg-based court on Tuesday supported Elizabeth McDonnell’s complaint about the investigation into her son’s death at Maghaberry prison outside Belfast.
James McDonnell died from a heart attack on 30 March 1996 amid allegations that his fatal coronary was set off by prison officers holding him in stress positions inside the jail.
The European ruling noted that prison officers were interviewed in March and May 1996 and in May 1997.
However, the prosecuting authorities in Northern Ireland gave a direction not to prosecute anyone in connection with the death.
An inquest was not held into McDonnell’s death until April 2013 ending a month later. It concluded that a number of factors had led to him dying, including initial restraint by prison staff; compression on his neck; control and restraint measures carried out against him; his underlying heart condition and emotional stress.
The inquest also found there had been a failure in the duty of care towards prisoners in the McDonnell case.
The European court ruled, in reference to article 2 of the European convention on human rights (the right to life), that Elizabeth McDonnell was justified in complaining about an excessive delay in the inquest proceedings.
She was awarded €10,000 (£8,000) in damages and €8,000 in costs.
A spokesman for the Council of Europe said both sides in the case had three months to request that it be referred to the court’s grand chamber for a final judgment.
