A murderer died after prison and healthcare staff missed signs that he had tuberculosis (TB) prior to his death, an inquest found.
Alvaro Mendoza Sillerico, who was an inmate at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottingham, died in November 2024 almost six years after he was jailed for life for murdering his flatmate in Peckham.
An inquest in April found he died from natural causes but identified missed opportunities to spot and treat TB earlier, which might have contributed to his death.
The prisons watchdog has now found his care at Lowdham Grange was “poor” and fell below community standards, with staff failing to investigate severe weight loss, follow up missed appointments, or escalate concerns about his deteriorating health.
The watchdog also highlighted wider failings, including poor communication between prison and healthcare teams, the use of restraints while he was critically ill in hospital, language barriers over TB screening, and delays and confusion around supporting his family after his death.
Sillerico stabbed 39-year-old Juan Olmos-Saca in a drunken argument at their flat in Rye Lane, Peckham, in January 2018.
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Police were called to the flat and found Juan barely conscious in a stairway with a stab wound to the chest – he died in hospital days later.
Sillerico, a Bolivian who was in the UK illegally, had knifed him in the chest in a “cruel and cowardly” attack after he felt humiliated by a joke.
He was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 17 years in January 2019.
HMP Lowdham Grange has since brought in daily multi-disciplinary safety huddles and tougher systems for chasing missed appointments and monitoring isolating prisoners, but the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman warned further improvements are still needed.
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