A PRISONER who died just days after escaping from a Suffolk jail had accidentally overdosed on methadone, a coroner has ruled.Paul Fleet was found dead at a house in Fairfield Hill, in Stowmarket, after he went on the run from Hollesley Bay open prison where he was serving a five-year sentence for wounding with intent.

A PRISONER who died just days after escaping from a Suffolk jail had accidentally overdosed on methadone, a coroner has ruled.

Paul Fleet was found dead at a house in Fairfield Hill, in Stowmarket, after he went on the run from Hollesley Bay open prison where he was serving a five-year sentence for wounding with intent.

During an inquest held at the Active Business Centre in Bury St Edmunds yesterday, Suffolk coroner Dr Peter Dean said the 39-year-old had died after consuming between 100ml and 150ml of methadone, which had lead to a cardiac arrest.

But he said he did not believe Mr Fleet had intended to kill himself, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The father-of-two, from Mingay Road in Thetford, had gone on the run from prison on March 26.

On March 28, he went to stay at a friend's house, where he died two days later. On the night of his death, he had been drinking beer with two friends, and was found the next morning with his head on a mattress. He stayed there until the afternoon, when his friends realised he had stopped breathing and an ambulance was called.

In a statement released at the time of the disappearance and subsequent death, the Home Office confirmed an investigation would be launched into the incident by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Mr Fleet, who was single, carried out voluntary work for Oxfam during his time in prison.

Dr Dean said: “There is no suggestion that he did this intentionally to harm himself in any way.”