The family of a man who killed six people at a barbecue said he was “mistreated” and belonged in a “mental hospital” after he was found hanged in his cell in a maximum security prison.
Damian Rzeszowski, who was 37 when he died, was found hanging in his cell in Full Sutton prison, in East Yorkshire, seven years after stabbing his wife, two young children and three more people to death.
He died in March 2018, just two weeks after medical staff at the maximum security prison decided to refer him to Broadmoor special hospital.
He slaughtered Izabela Rzeszowska, 30, Kinga, five, and Kacper, two, in St Helier, Jersey, in August 2011, after a barbecue in 2011, where he also killed his father-in-law, his wife’s friend and her daughter.
Damian was later jailed for 30 years for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
An inquest jury heard on Monday (April 24) that the killer’s dad complained about his son’s treatment in prison, believing he was being mistreated while behind bars.
A statement was read to the court by PC Kalina Tyszeca, a British cop tasked with talking to Rzeszowski’s parents in Poland.
Damian’s dad’s statement read: “[My] son should have been in a mental hospital, not a segregation unit, due to his mental health”.
Tyszeca said the family were so worried about him they had been trying to contact the Polish embassy for help.
She said the family claimed Damian had no mental health problems before he got married and moved to Jersey in 2004.
Senior coroner Professor Paul Marks told jurors that because Damian was sentenced in Jersey, the judge was unable to send him to a secure mental hospital instead of a prison.
Once in prison, Damian was put under close supervision by a psychiatrist due to a “severe and enduring diagnosis of psychosis and depression”, a former nurse at Full Sutton said.
The nurse said that while Rzeszowski’s treatment was scaled down in 2015 after he showed improvements, in January 201 he self-harmed and tried to overdose, leading to him being placed in segregation under even more rigorous supervision.
A psychiatrist decided Rzeszowski was showing signs of psychotic illness and, when he did not comply with his medication, a referral was made to Broadmoor special hospital two weeks before his death.
Mr Brennan said normal referrals usually take two to three weeks to action.
The inquest, which is due to last nine days, was adjourned until yesterday (April 25).
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