A “gentleman” member of a gang that plotted an elaborate jewel heist at a St Andrews golf resort collapsed in a prison shower after failing to realise he was dying from pneumonia and diabetes, a Fatal Accident Inquiry heard.
Paul Hogwood, 60, was part of a group that targeted the Mappin & Webb shop at St Andrews’ Old Course Hotel in 2015.
He was laughing and joking with another lag in Perth Prison only minutes before he suffered a terminal cardiac arrest, the probe was told.
Death was due to a build up of acid in Hogwood’s blood – known as diabetic ketoacidosis – connected to his pneumonia and “poorly controlled” type 1 diabetes.
The inquiry, at Falkirk Sheriff Court, heard Hogwood, from London, had been diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 22 and carried out his own blood-sugar monitoring and insulin administration.
However, his medical notes showed “a recorded pattern non-engagement with health services while in prison”.
St Andrews heist
In 2016, Hogwood and six other gang members were jailed for a total of 47 years for plotting the Old Course heist.
Hogwood, described at the High Court in Paisley as “a career criminal”, was handed the longest stretch – 10 years.
Judge John Morris KC heard they had bought weapons, carried out a reconnoitre of the Mappin & Webb shop and stole two fast Italian scooters to use as getaway vehicles.
However police moved in to make arrests shortly before the crime could take place.
Police Scotland said at the time the men were all part of a gang the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad believed were responsible for a series of smash-and-grab robberies in London.
Detectives from the Met liaised with their counterparts in Scotland after establishing the men planned to travel north and commit a similar crime.
The group were monitored in a “major surveillance operation” from the moment they entered Scotland, police said.
Collapsed in showers
Hogwood had been sick the evening before his death at mealtime on January 15 2021, the inquiry was told.
Prison warder Ross Milne, 50, offered to call a nurse but Hogwood declined.
Mr Milne said the prisoner had been “clear, concise” and was neither slurred nor drowsy, so he moved on.
He saw Hogwood several more times that day and each time he said he was feeling and better – and he looked better – every time.
But that evening as staff were putting out the evening meal, a passman told him there was something happening in the showers and he found Hogwood “flat on the ground and trying to get up”.
He radioed for help and nurses arrived quickly.
He said: “The next thing there was a shout for a blue light ambulance and the nurses were doing CPR.
“It became apparent after that that Paul had passed.”
He said he was “shocked” but when, earlier in the day, Hogwood had kept refusing medical attention he had “respected his wishes”.
‘Gentleman’
Mr Milne, a residential officer, added: “Paul was a great prisoner.
“He was a gentleman.
“I wish I’d had a whole landing of people like Paul as it would have made my day a lot better.
“He just seemed to be a genuinely nice guy.”
‘Too late to save prisoner’
Consultant physician Dr Ken Darzy said poorly-controlled diabetes was one of the most common causes of community-acquired pneumonia of the type Hogwood had, in his case complicated by diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
He described Hogwood as having been in otherwise good physical condition and agreed this may have contributed to him feeling he could “power through” his sickness.
Dr Darzy said: “Maybe he did not appreciate how ill he was until he collapsed.
“It was too late to prevent his death once he had collapsed in the shower.”
Hogwood’s wife, Mrs Karen Hogwood, who watched evidence via a video link, said: “I want justice for my husband, that’s all.”
Sheriff Christopher Shead will give his determination at a later date.
