A teenager who thought he might be HIV positive hung himself in Doncaster Prison - three days after being locked up for armed robbery.

Warehouseman Mark Hutton, from Keighley, was found in July hanging from a window handle at the prison.

He was on remand after raiding a card shop in Bingley at knifepoint and snatching £50 to feed his drug habit.

Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper, who this week is hearing evidence about four deaths at the prison last year, recorded a verdict of suicide.

Doncaster, a private prison, has come under fire for the number of inmates committing suicide since it opened in 1994. Five prisoners died last year, putting it in the top three worst jails for suicides.

Mr Hooper heard that at the time of Mr Hutton's death he was undergoing a detoxification programme. He had also requested an HIV test because he had used shared needles

The inquest heard the course seemed to be working and Mr Hutton was in good spirits with prison staff and other inmates.

Mr Hutton's sister Sharon Cook, of Keighley, told the inquest: "He shared needles and thought he might be HIV positive. In 1997 when he was detained in Wetherby he asked for tests but was too scared to go for the results. He was never given counselling or advice. When he was at Don-caster he again raised the question of a test but was never taken."

A prison spokesman said Mark showed no suicidal tendancies, was responding well to his treatment and would have been tested for HIV after the treatment ended.

The hearing was told Mark was given supervised doses of medicines each day, but was left without treatment for 11 hours at night.

Mr Hutton's mother Christine believes if her son had been given his medication later in the evening, he could have survived.

She says: "It was written down on his drugs chart he should have been given the medication at 9pm. He was given it at 6pm. It would mean he woke up earlier than he should and he would have had more time to become anxious and aggitated before he was seen in the morning."

""I work in the health service and I know how important it is to have the drugs at the right time.''

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