AN inmate found hanged in his cell on Portland had tried to commit suicide twice before, an inquest jury heard.

Hugh James Edwards, 30, from Glastonbury in Somerset, died in the Verne Prison on November 9 last year.

He was less than four months into a five-year sentence for robbery. A jury at an inquest in Dorchester heard the prisoner had suffered schizophrenia for 13 years and died only a fortnight after being transferred from a jail in Bristol to the Verne.

They recorded an open verdict at the end of a two-day inquest in Dorchester.

The jury's verdict came after they heard how Mr Edwards' body was discovered by prison electricians, hanging from a bedsheet in his single-occupancy cell.

They were told that Mr Edwards regularly self-harmed while in Bristol, twice trying to commit suicide.

Fellow Verne inmate Oliver Churchill, who arrived at the Verne the same day as Mr Edwards, said he had told him he had twice tried to commit suicide before.

Mr Churchill said: "I said that if he ever felt like that again, he could talk to me or ask for help from the people in the prison.

"He said he wasn't planning to try again."

The jury heard Mr Edwards was found dead shortly after eating lunch with fellow inmates.

Mr Churchill said: "He often ate his food fast before going for a sleep which is what he did the day he died. He went upstairs, saying he was going for kip, and that was the last I saw of him."

Returning a unanimous open verdict, the jury foreman said there was no evidence that Mr Edwards had intended to kill himself.

The foreman added that the jury had concerns about lack of communication between the Bristol Prison and the Verne when Mr Edwards had been transferred and between prison officers on various shifts, but this had not contributed directly to the death of Mr Edwards.

Coroner Michael Johnston said he would write to the prison's governor expressing the jury's concerns.

He said: "The Verne has led the way in trying to prevent suicides and self-harm."