A convicted Hastings paedophile, Steven Haldane, sentenced to 14 years, died following a hunger strike. In April 2015, Steven Haldane of Cambridge Gardens, Hastings, was jailed for grooming an individual he presumed to be a teenage boy and for orchestrating a meeting for sexual purposes.
He was found guilty of orchestrating and encouraging a minor to participate in sexual acts, as well as possessing indecent movies and roughly 600 indecent still photographs of young boys, discovered by police during a search of his flat.
Three individuals acquainted with Steven Haldane initiated a sting operation after developing suspicions over the content and entries observed on an internet account.
They orchestrated a meeting between the fictional “boy” and Haldane, positioning a photographer outside Hastings Station.
They subsequently forwarded the issue to law enforcement.
Steven Haldane failed to attend the scheduled meeting; however, on that same day, detectives apprehended him and conducted a search of his residence, confiscating electronic devices that contained the illicit material.
He received an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and was designated a lifelong registered sex offender.
Steven Haldane passed away at HMP Stafford on August 29, 2022.
A report commissioned by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman revealed that Steven Haldane succumbed after a hunger strike.
In July 2022, he requested a meeting with his previous cellmate who had relocated to another wing. It was presumed that he sought to establish a relationship with him.
The staff denied the request, and Steven Haldane said he would commence a hunger strike on July 12, pledging to persist until the meeting was convened. On July 15, he retrieved his afternoon repast.
His cellmate stated that Steven Haldane conducted a two-week hunger strike in August, during which he would retrieve his meals but subsequently discard them by flushing them down the toilet.
Approximately one week prior to his demise, Haldane resumed eating, resulting in dyspepsia.
On August 27, he informed the staff that he was well, consuming meals, and had no concerns to address.
On August 29, Steven Haldane’s cellmate rang the emergency cell bell as he was concerned about him. He had been trying to defecate throughout the night but had failed.
A nurse saw him at 9.30am and was told by Steven Haldane that he hadn’t defecated for a month and had vomited the night before.
The nurse noted that his stomach was taut and gave him a laxative, before noting down the observations on a piece of paper.
A nurse returned to see him between 1.30pm and 2pm, when Steven Haldane said he had vomited again and it was black. He was also breathless and his abdomen was more taut.
The nurse decided he needed to be sent to hospital for an assessment and he was collected at around 3pm.
At 3.15pm, staff realised he was slumped in a wheelchair he had been place in and they could not find a pulse.
Staff members began CPR at 3.18pm. Paramedics declared him dead at 3.49pm.
A post-mortem examination found that Haldane died from toxic megacolon (extreme inflammation of the colon) caused by chronic constipation.
An inquest into Steven Haldane’s death held on June 12 this year concluded that his cause of his death was toxic megacolon secondary to chronic constipation.
The clinical reviewer was concerned about the care he received on August 29 due to the nurses initial failure to note the clinical observations on his record and the fact that the national early warning score (NEWS2), a tool used to assess clinical deterioration, was not used.
The reviewer also noted that there was a delay in staff starting CPR when Steven Haldane became unresponsive in reception.
They said: “We consider that staff should have started CPR as soon as the medical emergency code was called.
“Instead, there was a three minute delay before nurses arrived and started CPR.”
Following the report, the PPO has recommended that the governor ensures staff start CPR without delay when a prisoner has no pulse and stops breathing.
The reviewer also recommended that the head of healthcare ensures when staff take clinical observations, they record the readings in the prisoner’s medical record and calculate and record the NEWS2 score and know when to escalate care as a result.
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