A PAEDOPHILE who killed himself in prison by taking an overdose of pills had laughed to prison officers about his 'secret plans', an inquest has heard.

Daniel Davey had just been moved to a new wing at Bullingdon prison near Bicester because of other prisoners shouting abuse and trying to kick in his door when he died in January last year.

However, the 21-year-old was expecting visits to the prison from his friends and family, and things were ‘looking up’, the jury at Oxford Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

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Davey died one month into his 10 year and six month sentence for sexually abusing a five-year-old boy.

The coroner's court heard how the paedophile stashed away his medication – prescribed for his anxiety on the lead-up to his court appearance – and took a toxic dose in his room.

He was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital after having a heart attack in his cell, but paramedics could not save him.

In a statement read to the inquest jury on Monday, it was heard how it took nearly 30 minutes to get to his side – because of the tight security at the category B prison.

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Rebecca Byrne, the mental health nurse assigned to Davey during his stay, told the court yesterday: “He was struggling with the idea of missing out on his 20s. He wanted to live a normal life.

“In December he had told me he had made a plan: he was smiling and wouldn’t tell me what the plan was."

“He said ‘I have a plan and that scares me'.

"The was he was saying it to me was as if it was a joke: there was no other sign to say he was feeling suicidal; we have a lot of gentlemen who tell us that [they are suicidal] because they might want a cigarette.”

She went on: “He was smiling when he said about the plan, and he was laughing when he said 'if I tell you, you will stop me'.

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“It was almost like it was a joke to him, it was not consistent with somebody who is suicidal. He had visits in place and he was motivated and laughing. If I had felt that he was genuinely suicidal I would have put something in place. Even though he said he had a plan, he was presenting differently and not genuine.

“Despite the comments he was making, he was messing around with his cell mate, he was laughing, there were no symptoms to suggest he was depressed in any way.”

When asked what the symptoms would be, the mental health nurse said she would have expected to see low motivation, low mood, not getting much sleep and not eating.

Ms Byrne also told the court that Davey had seemed as if he was looking forward to starting a sex offender rehabilitation course at the prison.

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Despite that, she revealed that Davey had self-harmed in his cell.

Ms Byrne said: “He stated to the nurse that he had done it as a release but now felt much better.”

Davey said the same thing to prison officer Bernadette Hare.

She told the inquest yesterday: “The nature of Daniel’s offence made him a target from other prisoners.

“Being locked away dinner didn’t stop people shouting their worst and people kicking down the door. Even though they can’t get to you, it is very unnerving.”

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She said that during his stay he had opened up to her.

“He told me had started to self-harm as a child. He told me it started about the time of death of his uncle and the breakdown of his parent’s marriage. He said he was feeling low, but not suicidal.

“He spoke a lot about his dad and how his dad had been really supportive and his two sisters, and that had been one of the reasons for him not to do anything to himself.”

On his move to a different part of the prison she said: “I had reassured him that the move to the E wing was completely different – it seemed to reassure him that it was full of old people and people on crutches – different people altogether."

The inquest continues.