No one will be prosecuted in connection with the death of Steven (Pepe) Dill, because it is not in the public interest, according to the acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser.

Mr. Dill, 41, died at the Prison Farm in December 2001 after suffering an asthma attack. Last year, an inquest into his death heard how Mr. Dill had asked guards for medical help for more than seven hours before they acted. By the time a duty nurse arrived at the prison, Mr. Dill was unconscious and showed no signs of life. He was officially pronounced dead an hour later. The inquest concluded that Mr. Dill died as a result of "the absence of timely medical intervention from the complication of bronchial asthma".

Yesterday Mr. Ratneser confirmed reports that he had made a decision not to proceed with a prosecution.

"The decision to prosecute is something that is not normally disclosed to the public," he said when asked the reasons for his decision.

"What I have done is I have reviewed the files and I have taken the decision that a prosecution is not in the public interest and the matter has been referred with certain recommendations."

He would not say what recommendations he had sent on to the Governor.

"There is vested in the Director of Public Prosecutions a discretion as to when he should prosecute and when he should not prosecute. That is based on a number of factors, one of them is the public interest, the strength of the evidence against any one or more persons and the nature of culpability of one or more individuals - bearing in mind that the prosecution has to establish a case beyond reasonable doubt and in this case it would be criminal negligence."

He explained that he had to consider the "context of the (prison) regime in place at that point in time" in evaluating the actions of staff involved.

"Having considered all those matters and having looked at the evidence in the coroners inquest I took the view that a prosecution would not be in the public interest."

Last night Mr. Dill's partner and mother of their two teenaged sons, Lee-Ann Samuels-Dill, said she would not to let the matter rest until someone is held accountable.

Ms Samuels-Dill told The Royal Gazette that Mr. Ratneser had already informed her of his decision and she found it unacceptable.

"My lawyer will still be pursuing it - we're not going to let that rest. This is what I'm upset about I pick up the paper and I see where they are locking people up for nine months (for cruelty to pets). He was begging for his life and they paid him no mind whatsoever. I don't get it," she said.

"I told him I was not happy. I will be appealing to the Queen if I have to but someone has to be charged."

She added :"I just can't see them getting away with that - he had enough breath in him to beg for seven hours. The medical nurse felt they had time to get there - she took her time. That's how I feel.They have to be prosecuted."

"They took him away from me and his children and they have to be held accountable for it."

Following a Police investigation into the death, then DPP Khamisi Tokunbo decided not to proceed with criminal proceedings but that a coroner's inquest be held instead. At the inquest last October, former senior prison officer Myron Galloway, who was divisional officer at the Prison Farm on the night Mr. Dill died and is now retired, came under the most intense pressure of all the guards when he took the stand.

He was responsible for the care of the inmates, particularly when it came to summoning medical assistance when they were sick and was repeatedly asked in court why he had failed to get Mr. Dill help in the seven hours before his death.

Last night Ms Samuels-Dill said that Mr. Galloway had shown no remorse even during the inquest.

"He treated Steven Dill like he was nothing and he showed that in court," she said. "He showed that in his attitude in court and he knew that he was going to get away with it - well, he thinks so."

Inmates claimed Mr. Dill had told Mr. Galloway that the asthma attack was serious, and could even lead to death, but he continued to believe for almost seven hours that it was not an emergency.

But Mr. Galloway testified the four inmates had lied in their testimony about the events that night.