AN INQUIRY is to be held into the death of a man in a hospice because he was still officially a serving prisoner.

Michael Boylan, 61, died at the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham on May 14, having been transferred there from the town's Berwyn prison where he was serving a jail sentence.

Mr Boylan, who was from the Greater Manchester area, had been receiving palliative care.

At the opening of an inquest in Ruthin John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, said although the death appeared to be due to natural causes an inquest was mandatory because Mr Boylan was in state custody.

A post-mortem examination was carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers who gave a provisional cause of death as widespread bronchial pneumonia caused by cancer of the tongue.

β€œAn inquiry will be required by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman,” said the coroner.

The inquest was adjourned to a provisional date in October but Mr Gittins said it might have to be delayed.