An offender with a long list of convictions has died while in Elmley prison in Eastchurch.

Jamie Inglis, 40, was due to be sentenced for having a knife in St Michael’s Road, Sittingbourne, on October 27 last year, having pleaded guilty at magistrates’ court.

His name was listed "re. death certificate" at Maidstone Crown Court, but prosecutor Mary Jacobson said the Crown Prosecution Service had not been told why.

Confusion then followed when Judge Martin Joy was told Mr Inglis was already in custody,

The court clerk made inquiries with the general office and was told the prison had informed the court Mr Inglis, of no fixed address, was deceased.

The prison service later confirmed he had died while in custody on December 3.

Miss Jacobson said after Mr Inglis was arrested as he went into Sittingbourne railway station, he told officers he had the knife because he was going to kill himself.

“It is a shame the prison has not informed the Crown,” she added.

“We don’t know if there will be an inquest.”

Mr Inglis, she said, had 100 previous convictions from 38 court appearances.

A prison service spokesman said: “HMP Elmley prisoner Jamie Inglis died in custody on Sunday, December 3.

“As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”