AN INQUEST opened yesterday into the death of an inmate, two days after he was remanded to Durham Jail.
The body of David Andrew McCafferty, 39, was discovered by prison staff making a routine check of his cell, last Sunday afternoon.
Mr McCafferty was discovered slumped on the floor of the locked cell.
Police said it appeared a ligature, made from boot laces, tied to his neck had snapped from a light fitting and he is believed to have struck his head on a central heating pipe.
Mr McCafferty was remanded in custody by a judge at Durham Crown Court last Friday after his arrest following his failure to attend a scheduled hearing at the court last Thursday.
He was facing seven charges of obtaining by deception and two of attempting to obtain by deception, relating to payments for work he offered to carry out at the homes of elderly residents.
The inquest, in Durham, was told Mr McCafferty was formally identified by a friend, Paula Eltringham, who gave his last home address as Wilmore Street, in Millfield, Sunderland.
North Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle adjourned the hearing pending further inquiries into his death.
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