A prison officer accused of ignoring warnings over a mentally ill prisoner who hanged himself dismissed the allegations as lies yesterday.

Several Westgate prisoners have told the inquest into Lorenzo Robinson's death that they told Melton Taylor of concerns the 28-year-old might harm himself.

The inmates said they warned the officer to keep an eye on Mr. Robinson and that he was unusually quiet on the night in question but Mr. Taylor did not check on him.

Quizzed by Coroner Khamisi Tokunbo over this yesterday, Mr. Taylor said: "Nobody told me nothing, that's a lie."

Asked if he knew of any reason why the inmates would lie about him, he replied: "The little knowledge I have about inmates, jail is about survival. Inmates do lie. They do lie."

Mr. Robinson suffered from schizophrenia and depression and was considered to be seriously mentally ill.

He was sent to Westgate indefinitely after being acquitted on grounds of insanity of attempting to stab a tourist to death in broad daylight on Front Street.

Experts said during his trial in 2004 that he was highly dangerous and required long-term detention and treatment in a secure psychiatric facility, which Bermuda does not have.

Mr. Robinson also obtained a ruling from Chief Justice Richard Ground four months before his death that his condition required him to be treated in such a unit, and that a "hospital cell" he was being kept in at Westgate was no such thing.

The Chief Justice asked for Mr. Robinson's care to be reconsidered including the possibility of sending him overseas. However, he remained in Westgate until he died on July 13 last year, when he was housed in an ordinary cell and not on suicide watch. The inquest heard earlier this week from prison officer David Place, who was on the afternoon shift that day. He said he spoke with Mr. Robinson hours before his death and Mr. Robinson expressed concerns that Andre Hypolite and Shannon Tucker who were both facing trials for murder and were subsequently convicted wanted to kill him.

Mr. Place said he passed on his concern that Mr. Robinson was upset to the night shift.

Hypolite and Tucker who both strenuously deny having threatened Mr. Robinson or encouraging him to kill himself have both told the inquest that they told Mr. Taylor they were concerned about Mr. Robinson on the night of his death, and he should keep an eye on him. Another inmate, Jamiko Bean, also claims he reported the same concerns to that officer but he failed to check on Mr. Robinson for around two hours, despite his insistence that Mr. Robinson was unusually quiet and something was wrong. Taking the stand after Hypolite yesterday, Mr. Taylor read a Police statement he made hours after the incident. In it, he said he had no cause to be concerned for Mr. Robinson's welfare that night, and if he'd heard concerns from other inmates he would have reported them.

Mr. Taylor said he conducted half-hourly checks in the unit that night. He told the inquest that Mr. Robinson had a piece of toilet paper hanging three-quarters down the observation pane in his cell door for privacy. He said this was not allowed, but was normal practice for prisoners, and he did not tell Mr. Robinson to take it down because he could still see in.

He told the inquest the first time he checked on the prisoner he was lying fully clothed on his mattress. The next time, around 11 p.m., he was by the door, with his face by the door. Mr. Taylor claimed that at this point, Mr. Robinson told him: "Taylor, I'm gonna kill you tomorrow."

Mr. Taylor told the inquest he took this to be a threat stemming from the fact that Mr. Robinson had asked him for a razor the night before and he'd refused the request. Mr. Taylor said he reported this to divisional officer Phillip Downie who headed to the segregation unit to check on Mr. Robinson. He returned ten minutes or so later and said he needed to get the keys to Mr. Robinson's cell as the window was blocked and he wanted to clear it. Mr. Downie now a principal officer told the inquest in subsequent evidence yesterday, that the cell window was completely blocked and he could not see into it or get an answer to his knocks.

When Mr. Downie returned with the keys, they both went to Mr. Robinson's cell and found him hanging, naked, with his hands bound behind his back. Mr. Taylor said he believed he'd made the noose out of his bedsheet. In a section of his Police statement describing Mr. Robinson, he said: "He would on occasion say he was suicidal and we would keep an eye on him."

However, Mr. Taylor said Mr. Robinson did not seem to be bothered by anything in the two weeks he had spent in the segregation unit prior to his death. He said in the Police statement that: "Lorenzo has been in segregation on several occasions. I really don't know of his mental state."

Mr. Taylor's hands shook badly throughout his testimony, and at one point he was allowed to leave the courtroom for a short time to compose himself and get some water. Upon his return, he told Mr. Tokunbo and the jury hearing the inquest: "I must apologise to the court for my nervousness."

He then read from a second Police statement, made in August this year, in which he said: "I want to clarify that at no time did any inmate speak with me about Lorenzo. At no time did anyone say that I needed to keep an eye on him that night before the incident with Lorenzo. I consider myself a very diligent, careful officer and I always report any incident through the proper channels. If anyone had brought it to my attention, that Lorenzo was suicidal or needed to be observed, then I would have documented or recorded this."

Under subsequent cross-examination from Saul Froomkin QC, who represents Robinson's mother Dedonda Grant, he admitted that contrary to his claim in his Police statement he was aware of Mr. Robinson's mental state. He said he knew he was a schizophrenic who was incarcerated on the grounds of legal insanity and he knew he had cut his wrists in January 2008 and once tried to stab a prison officer. Mr. Taylor initially told Mr. Froomkin that he'd heard of Mr. Robinson's past from media reports and from other Westgate inmates. However, when he was asked by Mr Froomkin: "No-one in the prison (authorities) told you you were dealing with a suicidal, homicidal inmate?", he replied that he meant it was in the prison records and he'd heard it from officers.

When it was pointed out that several Westgate inmates have told the inquest Mr. Robinson was threatening suicide on an almost daily basis, he replied: "Not in my presence. Not in my hearing."

The inquest continues.