Drug addict robber who held up betting shop with rock dies after leaving jail as prison criticised
A prison has been criticised after a drug-addict robber who once held up a betting shop with a rock died three days after his release from jail.
Liam Darby became infamous in 2012 when he robbed the Ladbrokes in Forton Road, Gosport, he was a regular of while threatening staff with a rock. On that occasion he drunkenly stumbled out the store with £1,600 while dropping cash - with his own barrister calling him “idiotic”.
Ten years on from that incident, which saw him serve two and a half years in a young offenders’ institution, the distinctive heroin addict with a large tattoo on his neck was in need of cash for a drug hit when he ambushed Subway in Albert Road, Southsea, on August 30, 2022. He was locked up for two years and eight months.
Now a report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has looked into the circumstances of his death after leaving HMP Erlestoke on 18 July 2023. He died from respiratory depression caused by a drug overdose three days later on 21 July.
The 31-year-old’s death was caused by the combined use of heroin, codeine, methadone, pregabalin and alcohol.
The report stated: “Although Erlestoke told us that the substance misuse service at the prison saw Mr Darby frequently for clinical and psychosocial care in the two months he spent there, we found that record-keeping was poor and did not document the treatment he received.
“We make the following recommendation: The Head of Healthcare should ensure that all contact and interventions with prisoners under the care of the substance misuse service are properly recorded.”
The PPO report also revealed how Darby was released on a Home Detention Curfew with the prison saying he was given harm minimisation advice on release - but the PPO said there was “no record of this”.
The investigation said Darby was released to a shared house in Hampshire where his support worker saw him. She noted he was “high in mood” and grateful to be out of prison. “He talked about improving his life and focusing on himself. She saw Mr Darby twice that day. He did not raise any concerns and said he had no intention of harming himself,” the report said.
“Darby told her that he had difficulties with his mental health but that mental health services would not help him due to his substance misuse.
“The (support worker) noted that Mr Darby had been released from prison without his prescriptions.” She contacted NHS Inclusion who provided the prescriptions for Darby.
Prior to his death, Darby’s housemate saw him going to the bathroom to change his stoma bag. “This was the last time he saw him. It was noted in the police’s sudden death report for the coroner that Mr Darby had voiced no intentions of suicide or self-harm and had not raised any other concerns,” the report said.
“At approximately 8.44am on 21 July, a support worker knocked on Mr Darby’s door, but he did not respond. She knocked a further two times before she went into his room and found him on the bedroom floor. She called the ambulance service immediately. Paramedics arrived at 8.47am and pronounced Mr Darby dead at 8.48am.
“Drug paraphernalia was found in Mr Darby’s room, including small cooking spoons and syringes, one of which appeared to be used.”
The post-mortem toxicology results identified morphine (at a level associated with fatalities), alcohol (at a level over the drink-drive limit), methadone and pregabalin (which had been prescribed) and a number of other drugs at a therapeutic level.
At an inquest held on 10 December 2024, the coroner concluded that Darby died of misadventure.