Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, told the Highland News this week that “there appears to be flaws” in the fatal accident inquiry in 2004 surrounding the death of Donald Campbell.

The body of Mr Campbell (46), who had learning difficulties, was found in the Caledonian Canal on November 20, 2002.

The FAI concluded that Mr Campbell took his own life by entering the canal, having first swallowed 50 milligrammes of the sedative Lorazepam.

Mr Campbell’s brother George, of Johnston Place, Hilton, is questioning how his brother came to be in possession of such a large quantity of the drug and claims there has been a cover-up at a city nursing home.

Mr Ewing, a solicitor, has now written to Scotland’s Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, expressing his disquiet over possible shortcomings of the accident inquiry and seeking a review of the case.

“There appears to be flaws in the FAI,” the MSP told the Highland News. “I have now sought a meeting with the Lord Advocate to discuss this case.

“In view of the concerns raised by my constituent George Campbell, Donald’s brother, I feel it would be reasonable to ask for a fiscal from another sheriffdom, possibly Grampian, to cast a fresh eye over the evidence.”

During the inquiry, staff at Kinmylies Lodge, the nursing home where Mr Campbell was a resident, stated that 53 Lorazepam tablets prescribed to him had been handed back to a pharmacy two days after his death.

But although records at the home indicate the tablets were returned, no receipt from the pharmacy was produced nor was it confirmed by the pharmacy that the drugs had been received.

Towards the end of the FAI, Sheriff Ian Ingles wondered aloud why no witnesses had been called to support the claim by home staff that Mr Campbell’s Lorazepam medication had been returned to a chemist after his death.

Sheriff Ingles observed that no receipt for the return of Mr Campbell’s medication had been produced and that the members of staff who had signed his medical notes stating this had happened had not been called to give evidence.

“If one was to be thoroughly cynical about it, the checks of Lorazepam were signed by people who didn’t give evidence,” he said.

However, in his conclusion, Sheriff Ingles stated: “In the absence of cogent evidence to show that the Lorazepam had gone missing before Mr Campbell left the nursing home and that thereafter there was a deliberate and concerted concealment of the truth, I would not be prepared to hold that it was established as a probability that Mr Campbell obtained the Lorazepam from the nursing home and thereafter the nursing home deliberately concealed this fact.”

But Mr Campbell’s brother George remains unhappy over how his brother came to be in possession of such a large quantity of the drug.

He told the Highland News this week: “Are we supposed to believe that Donald went out on the street and illegally bought the exact same quantity of Lorazepam as in his medication supposed to be still in the home?

“I also want to know why when the pathologist identified the Lorazepam in Donald’s system two weeks after his death, no-one was asked then to account for the whereabouts of his medication.

“That question was only asked nearly two years later at the first sitting of the FAI, and even then it failed to produce a satisfactory answer.”

George Campbell said he felt there were many other discrepancies in evidence presented to the inquiry which demanded further investigation.

He said contents of a critical incident review, carried out in April 2003 and involving staff at New Craigs Hospital and Kinmylies Lodge, have raised further questions.

“I believe this is a cover-up,” he said. “Where did these drugs come from if not the home?

“I have four sisters who are still waiting for answers nearly fours years after Donald died.”

Last week, George Campbell spent an hour outlining his concerns to Mr Ewing.

The procurator fiscal’s office has stated that the circumstances of Mr Campbell’s death “were fully and carefully investigated” before being presented at the FAI.

g.crawford@highland-news.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---