Brendan Reilly, aged 34, was an inmate at HMP Kilmarnock when he was found unresponsive in his cell. Reilly had been jailed for a minimum of 15 years after stabbing David Wilson, 20, to death in Port Glasgow.
Despite the morning roll call where officers checked on him without a verbal reply, it wasn’t until a later visit to his cell that they sounded the alarm, though tragically by then it was too late for any medical intervention to save him in June 2021.
The ensuing post-mortem revealed a fatal mix of etizolam intoxication paired with opioid usage. However, the fatal accident inquiry at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court concluded that no steps could have been taken that would have prevented Reilly’s demise.
Sheriff Nicola Patrick pointed out a procedural lapse: the standard requirement of obtaining a verbal response from inmates during morning checks was overlooked the day Reilly died, but this did not directly lead to his death, reports the Daily Record.
While prison staff neglected to hear back from Reilly on that fateful morning before later discovering his lifeless body, an additional concern was brought to light: a direct line between the prison and Scottish Ambulance Service was missing, one which has still not been established—an issue Sheriff Patrick emphasised needs rectifying promptly.
In her official written verdict, Sheriff Patrick clarified: “Mr Reilly’s death was not the result of an accident.”
She spelled out the cause: “His death was a result of intoxication through ingestion of etizolam combined with buprenorphine.”
The sheriff concluded: “In all of the circumstances I am satisfied that there were no further precautions which could reasonably have been taken which might realistically have resulted in the death of Mr Reilly being avoided.
“I offer my condolences to Mr Reilly’s family and thank them for their indication at the conclusion of the inquiry that they felt the circumstances surrounding his death had been fully explored.”
Reilly had been previously convicted of stabbing David Wilson, 20, to death in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, in 2005, just hours after being released from a young offenders’ institution. He was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison.
David Wilson died after being stabbed by Reilly in the street brawl (Image: undefined)
In a letter sent to a friend Reilly wrote: “There is nothing I can say apart frm he deserved it. If I could do it all again I would, no bother.
“I thought I would have got 20 years but 15 was a result. I need to do the full 15 before I can apply for parole but if I win my appeal I could get it dropped to 10, maybe, so here’s hoping.
“But it’s a pure doddle in here, that’s how I said, ‘fifteen years – no bother’.”
Reilly, then 19, had been walking in Port Glasgow with his girlfriend when he met Mr Wilson and following an altercation, Reilly knifed him three times in the back and punctured his lung.
