AN inquest jury has returned an open verdict on a paedophile who died in a prison van.

Mark Holmes, 24, of South Shields, died while being transferred from Acklington Prison, Northumberland, to Durham Prison last May.

He was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court last March for raping a five-year-old girl and molesting a six-year-old boy on Tyneside ten years ago. He was jailed for seven years.

The inquest heard that Holmes suffered from an overactive thyroid gland and that his weight fell to six stones in the days before his death.

He collapsed in the prison van and was certified dead at Durham's Dryburn Hospital.

The jury heard that pathologist James Sunter considered Holmes probably died from over-treatment with anti-thyroid drugs.

North Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle directed the jury to return an open verdict.