A CORONER will write to the Prison Service to highlight shortcomings in the treatment of an inmate who committed suicide shortly after she was transferred to a North-East prison.

For the second time in six months, County Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle has said he would contact the authorities to raise concerns arising from the suicide of an inmate at Durham Prison.

A jury at the inquest, at Chester-le-Street Magistrates' Court yesterday, returned a verdict that Susan Stevens took her life.

The 48-year-old, from London, was found hanged in her cell at the now-closed wom-en's unit at Durham Prison in February 2003, within days of being transferred from Holloway Prison, in London.

Ms Stevens, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for arson and assault in 1995, made repeated threats to harm herself during her time at Holloway, where she had been on a full-time suicide watch for more than a year.

The inquest heard that Ms Stevens should have been on a 30-minute suicide watch, but records show that checks were carried out less frequently.

At the end of the six-day inquest, the jury found there had not been adequate planning in transferring Ms Stevens to Durham Prison, that the prison had not taken appropriate steps on her arrival to assess her risk of self-harm, that staff had not followed correct procedures to consider, complete and review her risk of self-harm during her stay at Durham, and that she was not appropriately monitored during her time at the North-East prison.

However, the jury accepted none of the failures contributed to her death, and also accepted that staff at Durham had taken appropriate precautions to prevent her from ending her own life.

Mr Tweddle said: "I think it would be appropriate to write a suitable letter to the authorities, highlighting the various matters I think might need to be taken on board by the Prison Service.

"I always live in hope that the Prison Service, in deaths like this, can realise any shortcomings that are apparent and can act upon them without waiting for hearings such as this."

In December, the lack of an effective system to identify prisoners at risk of suicide was raised by Mr Tweddle following the inquest into the death of 33-year-old remand prisoner Terry Gaskell, from Wigan.

Mr Gaskell was found hanged at the prison in October 2002.