THE family of a prisoner who hanged himself while he was in custody are considering legal action against the Prison Service.

A jury yesterday returned an open verdict at the inquest of Mark McGrogan, 28, of Boswell Street, Middlesbrough.

He died at the University Hospital of North Tees after being found in a cell at Holme House Prison, Stockton, on June 12. Mr McGrogan was in a coma for nearly two weeks before dying of brain damage on June 27.

An unemployed labourer, he was a heroin addict, who had been a heavy amphetamines user. He told doctors he had taken crack cocaine in the past.

The inquest heard he had become depressed when his girlfriend left him.

Representing his family, Lee Goodchild, said: "We have been instructed by Mark's mother, Mrs Dorothy McGrogan, to pursue all avenues, including legal, to determine whether there were any failings in the system into which Mark was placed."

A spokeswoman for the Prison Service extended her sympathy to his family.

However, she said: "The coroner recorded an open verdict into the death of Mark McGrogan with no suggestion of negligence on the part of Her Majesty's Prison Service."

Mr McGrogan was in prison on remand after being arrested on suspicion of taking part in a robbery on June 5, in which the victim was stabbed with a knife.

Months before his death, Mr McGrogan was stripped of a £1,500 compensation payout made for being unlawfully detained in a police cell after a domestic incident.

Cleveland Police took the national test case to the High Court and had the decision to reward him compensation overturned.