A SHERIFF has ruled nothing could have been done to avoid the death of a prisoner once branded one of Scotland’s “most dangerous men”, who died after an overdose.

Gary Black’s body was discovered in his cell bed at HMP Low Moss, near Glasgow, on the morning of January 15, 2017.

Staff battled to save the 29-year-old - but he was later pronounced dead and a post-mortem revealed he died from “morphine and delorazepam intoxication”.

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A fatal accident inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month heard that weeks earlier, on December 21, Black, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was found in his cell and rushed to hospital, and discharged the next day.

He denied taking any illegal drugs that could have lead to his collapse when speaking to a doctor the following day and seemed disinterested in a conversation about the dangers of drugs.

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Sheriff John McCormick issued a judgement that said: “No submissions were made in terms of whether any precaution which could reasonably have been taken and which might realistically have resulted in the death being avoided.”

There were no submissions about any defects in the system that contributed in Black’s death, or any other relevant facts.

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He added: “I was satisfied that there was no basis on which to make any findings in terms of these provisions.”

The sheriff also said: “For the sake of completeness, after both investigation and forensic analysis, neither the police nor the prison authorities were able to establish how Mr Black had acquired the drugs which led to his death.”

Black was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice and jailed for five years at Airdrie Sheriff Court in May 2015, then sentenced to a further four months in July 2016 for assault.