A CORONER has called for further investigations into the death of a serving prisoner who died in a Wrexham hospice.

Michael Boylan, 61, died at the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham on May 14 having been transferred there from the town's Berwyn prison where he was serving a jail sentence.

Mr Boylan, who was from the Greater Manchester area, had been receiving palliative care.

At an inquest hearing in Ruthin Joanne Lees, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said although the death appeared to be due to natural causes an inquest was mandatory because Mr Boylan was in state custody.

A post-mortem examination was carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers who gave a provisional cause of death as widespread bronchial pneumonia caused by cancer of the tongue.

The inquest heard Mr Boylan had been transferred to HMP Berwyn from Forest Bank Prison in Salford, near Manchester, on September 21, 2017, and had been given an "urgent referral" after an examination from a prison dentist who was concerned about his health, given Mr Boylan's history of cancer.

Ms Lees said enquiries needed to be made into the circumstances of Mr Boylan's death to determine if he was subject to "the same waiting times as anyone in the community" and if the standard of treatment he received contributed to an "unnatural death".

"At the moment this is a death from natural causes but we are at the early stages where we are still in the process of gathering evidence," she added.

The inquest was adjourned until an unconfirmed date in the New Year.