The investigation into the death of prison inmate Steven (Pepe) Dill may not be over now the inquest is complete, The Royal Gazette was told yesterday.

The report from Coroner's officer Insp. Philip Taylor, detailing the evidence and outcome of the hearing, is now to be sent to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Kulandra Ratneser.

He can assess the evidence and decide if further action, or criminal proceedings, should follow in light of what materialised in the inquest.

Police had carried out a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Dill in December 2001, which was completed and passed to the former DPP Khamisi Tokunbo for direction in August of last year.

However, while Mr. Tokunbo decided no criminal charges should be brought against any prison guards on duty the day Mr. Dill died - and an inquest held instead - The Royal Gazette has learned that decision ran counter to a Police suggestion.

It is understood that Police wrote to Mr. Tokunbo and suggested that, based on the evidence they had, serious criminal proceedings could be brought under the umbrella of criminal negligence.

But nothing materialised.

Now, Mr. Ratneser said, as with all inquest results, the matter would be sent back to his office.

Mr. Ratneser said: "Normally, the coroner's report and the verdict of the jury will be sent to me, so I will have to read them to see what they say. I have not been in the inquest.

"I am awaiting the report from the Police Prosecutions Department, who conducted the inquest, before I make any decision on the matter.

"But, if I feel it needs further investigation, I will send it back to the Police to be looked at."

Former senior prison officer Mr. 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 at the inquest on Thursday.

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.

Mr. Dill's brother, Raymond Rawlins, said he believed someone should answer for his elder brother's death, and said he would like the case looked at again by the DPP.

He said: "I believe somebody should go up for it - I think criminal proceedings should be brought based on what we have heard this week."

And he said he was upset, claiming that Mr. Galloway had not shown any remorse while testifying about his brother's death.

He said: "Mr. Galloway does not seem to care and we saw that in court. He showed no remorse about what happened."

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.

On the witness stand on Thursday, Mr. Galloway testified the four inmates had lied in their testimony about the events that night.

Despite Mr. Dill first complaining to Mr. Galloway about the need for a new asthma pump or hospital nebuliser just after 5 p.m., the senior prison officer did not page the duty nurse until 6.47 p.m.

However, the page message did not reach her and she did not respond.

Mr. Galloway said he tried to page her again, but was unable to get through due to the rain that night, despite various other calls successfully being made from the prison that night.

The senior guard then called the duty nurse at home and on her cell number more than three hours later.

The nurse was not alerted to Mr. Dill's request for a pump until almost 10 p.m., and she was not told the matter was serious or informed of any symptoms, so did not show up at the prison farm until almost midnight. By then, it was too late.

Mr. Galloway accused four inmates of lying in their evidence about the events that night, and said, contrary to claims, he had not told Mr. Dill that if he died, he would be one less prisoner to care for.

The prison guard said he cared about all of his charges and would have called an ambulance or other medical help if he had seen signs of distress from Mr. Dill or thought the illness was serious.

The former prison guard told the court that Mr. Dill's decline was "dramatic - very quick" and said he had been fine and able to walk just moments before he collapsed and died.