A jailed loyalist terror boss was left to die despite the British government being warned that his life was in danger, it was claimed tonight.
Former Northern Ireland Assembly member Mr Ian Paisley Jr has demanded a reopening of the inquest into Loyalist Volunteer Force chief Mark "Swinger" Fulton and called on Security Minister Jane Kennedy to give evidence.
Fulton (42) committed suicide by strangling himself to death in his cell at Maghaberry Prison, near Lisburn, Co Antrim in June 2002.
Mr Paisley hit out after releasing letters he alleged prove the authorities failed to act on urgent warnings that special health care was needed.
The ex-Democratic Unionist MLA said: "The Government failed to act. "They had a window of opportunity to respond to this matter and from the correspondence received did absolutely nothing.
"This directly led to the failure of the system that resulted in Fulton's death."
An inquest earlier this month into the death of Fulton, one of Northern Ireland's most notorious terrorists, found he had throttled himself to death using a belt.
But Mr Paisley said he wrote to Ms Kennedy on May 30th, 2002, 10 days before the suicide, warning her Fulton had recently collapsed and was in extreme pain while he waited for medical tests.
In a reply from Ms Kennedy on June 12th he was told Fulton had been found dead in his cell two days earlier.
A full police inquiry would be carried out and an inquest held in due course, he was told.
But calling on Ms Kennedy to tell him if she took any further action, Mr Paisley claimed the Northern Ireland Office was "uncaring" about the lives of Protestant inmates.