Skip to content
Evil killer who murdered his wife, kids and three others dies in Yorkshire prison
A man who stabbed his wife and their two children, plus three more victims, killed himself in an Yorkshire prison.
Damian Rzeszowski, 37, was jailed after stabbing to death six people. However, now a string of failings have been identified in the lead-up to the 37-year-old’s death after he was found hanging in his cell at Full Sutton prison.
Evil killer Rzeszowski stabbed to death his wife Izabela Rzeszowska, 30, who had been having an affair and their two children Kinga, five, and Kacper, two. He also killed his father-in-law, his wife’s friend and her daughter, reports HullLive.
Read more:
Rzeszowski brutally stabbed all his victims multiple times during the attacks in St Helier, Jersey, in August 2011. He was seen chasing his wife down the street before killing her – before he stabbed himself in the chest and collapsed.
Members of the public tried to intervene, but were unable to save her. Rzeszowski he received life-saving surgery and was later jailed for 30 years for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. He was moved to the maximum security Full Sutton prison in 2013.
Took his own life
An inquest into Rzeszowski’s death was held in Hull last month. After nine days, a jury concluded that he took his own life on March 31, 2018.
Now, the Prisons Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in custody, has raised concerns about Rzeszowski’s treatment for serious mental health conditions. His family have said he should have been in a psychiatric hospital and he died two weeks after medical staff decided to refer him to Broadmoor special hospital.
A statement was read to the inquest by PC Kalina Tyszeca, a British police officer tasked with talking to Rzeszowski’s parents in Poland. In the statement, the officer said the killer’s father complained to her about his son’s treatment in prison.
Those concerns appear to have been well-founded following the Prisons Ombudsman investigation. Ombudsman Sue McAllister identified a number of findings which needed to be addressed by the prison governor and the healthcare team.
Rzeszowski received a care package in prison to deal with his complex mental health needs and saw a psychiatrist regularly. But in January 2018, his mental health began to deteriorate and he took an overdose of pills. He was successfully treated and placed on suicide monitoring (known as ACCT).
He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was moved to a segregation unit after trashing his cell. He was considered psychotic and was due to be referred to a psychiatric hospital. After 45 days he was sent back to the normal prison wing and took his own life four days later.
‘Serious concerns’
In her report Ms McAllister said: “I have a number of serious concerns about the way Mr Rzeszowski was managed at Full Sutton. There were several failings in the management of Mr Rzeszowski’s time in the segregation unit. Managers failed to record that Mr Rzeszowski was in the ACCT post-closure phase and should therefore only have been segregated if there were exceptional reasons for doing so.
“Healthcare staff failed to take account of the fact that he was awaiting an assessment for a transfer to a secure psychiatric hospital and wrongly concluded that there were no healthcare reasons to advise against segregation. In addition, staff did not create a mental health care plan for Mr Rzeszowski, as required for anyone held in segregation for over 30 days.
“I also consider that there were deficiencies in staff’s management of the ACCT procedures. Staff did not hold ACCT case reviews in response to apparent increases in Mr Rzeszowski’s risk and there were discrepancies between prison and healthcare staff’s assessment of his level of risk.
Ms McAllister said she “did not consider that the 45 days Mr Rzeszowski spent in segregation were managed well”. There had been “no recognition [that] his complex mental health needs were being managed”.
She also found discrepancies between prison and healthcare staff over the level of risk he presented and he was not observed frequently enough. There were concerns too about the way Rzeszowski’s death was revealed to family members.
She said: “Mr Rzeszowski’s family lived in Poland and had very limited English. We are concerned that staff who contacted the family did not use an interpreter, which meant there were delays and difficulties in communicating his death. We do not consider that this was appropriate or sensitive.”
The report made a number of recommendations which Full Sutton prison should implement. Ms McAllister said: “We find it difficult to understand how the managers who authorised Mr Rzeszowski’s segregation over a period of 45 days were not aware of his ACCT status, mental health issues and referral to the high secure psychiatric hospital.
“The Governor and Head of Healthcare should ensure that staff manage prisoners held in the segregation unit in line with national guidelines.”
The recommendations include:
- Do not hold prisoners on open suicide monitoring plans unless all other options have been considered and excluded and the exceptional circumstances are fully documented and explained
- Hold Segregation Review Boards every 14 days
- Consider a prisoner’s mental health during a Segregation Review Board
- Complete mental health care plans for prisoners who have been segregated for longer than 30 days;
- Set realistic, specific and time-bound behaviour targets at Segregation Review Boards
- Consider whether it is necessary to plan for the return to normal location when prisoners have been in segregation for a long period.
The report also recommended a number of actions in relation to managing prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm. It also told the governor to ensure that there was an interpreter available when contacting next of kin of a foreign national prisoner. While the prison paid for the repatriation of Rzeszowski’s body they did not contribute to the funeral costs. Ms McAllister told the governor to pay reasonable funeral expenses to the family.
Read next:
