Cause of death of HMP Five Wells prisoner who was attacked day before remains a mystery

Kevin Golby, 49, originally from Banbury in Oxfordshire, died in his cell at HMP Five Wells in December 2024, a day after being attacked in the prison’s food hall.

A jury heard evidence during the inquest at the Guildhall in Northampton on Friday (March 20), whereby they determined his cause of death was unknown.

Mr Golby had been in a queue for food at about 5pm on December 9 when another prisoner attempted to cut the queue.

Mr Golby had taken issue with this, and the other prisoner punched him, knocking him unconscious for about five minutes.

He was taken to Kettering General Hospital and later returned to his single occupancy cell at about 3am in the morning of December 10.

At about 8.50am while performing routine checks, a prison custody officer found him sat on the floor of his cell with his back to the wall, and his head in his chest.

Paramedics on the scene noted Mr Golby had been dead for some time, pronouncing him dead at 9.11am on December 10.

The pathologist who examined Mr Golby’s body, Dr Frances Hollingbury, gave a provisional cause of death as unascertained, and believed the attack did not have an effect on his death.

She said: “There were a small number of injuries including on the bridge of his nose.

“I have been unable to determine the cause of his death. I have no way to link the two events. I therefore give the cause of death as 1a unascertained.

“Unfortunately, in around two to five per cent of cases we are unable to determine the medical cause of death.”

Dr Hollingbury also noted some other ‘trivial’ injuries which were not believed to be responsible for his death.

When asked if she thought the attack was the root cause of Mr Golby’s death, Dr Hollingbury added: “I have no pathological evidence to suggest that at all so in my opinion no, I do not.”

There were no abnormalities in the toxicology report.

Mr Golby had a known history of seizures, but not epilepsy, and the pathologist could determine if this was a contributing factor in his death.

A spokesman for the jury said: “Mr Golby had a history of seizures and the investigations were still ongoing. No formal medical diagnosis has been made.

“He had been taken to hospital the day before following an assault and had returned to prison at approximately 2.20am.

“Observations were taken which were normal. He was last seen alive at about 3am when he returned to his cell.

“His probable cause of death could not be ascertained.”

The ruling accepts the pathologist’s report.