A prison officer has told an inquest he "could not believe it" when told a prisoner had been found dead in his cell.

An ongoing inquest into the death of Bradleigh Trevor Barnes, who was found dead at HMP Portland on December 28, 2019, heard evidence from a prison officer at the institute.

Mr Gary Seal, giving evidence, described Mr Barnes as "a really nice guy" and "never one to cause issues".

Mr Seal said he would have seen Mr Barnes 'every day' when on the unit and 'never had any concerns' about the mental health of Mr Barnes.

He recalled a conversation with Mr Barnes in which the 23-year-old prompted the prison officer to enquire about Mr Barnes' safety.

Mr Seal said: “I didn’t have any major concerns as such. There was one moment when I was doing free-flow in the morning, when all prisoners are unlocked to go to work, and Bradleigh was packing his stuff to move cell.

"I asked why and Bradleigh said he didn’t want to talk about it and wanted to go down to the ‘ones’ – where the officers are based.

"Prior to that he had a cell-mate that had dabbled with spice, possibly Bradleigh thought he had been left in debt but he said he was okay and just wanted to move.”

Mr Barnes had barricaded himself in his cell on December 23 - prompting an ACCT to be opened. An ACCT is a document regarding concerns for welfare that triggers an 'immediate action plan'.

Mr Seal opened the ACCT after Mr Barnes had barricaded himself and said: “I remember going onto the unit, seeing people speaking at Bradleigh’s door. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, was made aware by other staff that he’d barricaded. That was being dealt with (and) I remember being told to open the ACCT book so I did as I was told and opened the ACCT book.”

“I asked what the reason was, you’re not just going to open it because you’re told to, and that’s when I was told he was displaying bizarre behaviour.”

An extract from the ACCT read: “Bradleigh has decided to barricade his cell. This behaviour is completely unlike him. ACCT opened as a precaution.”

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Mr Seal said the last time he'd seen Mr Barnes, on December 23, he felt there was 'no indication' he intended to harm himself.

He said: "I was really quite shocked. I couldn’t believe what had happened – when I found it was Bradleigh I didn’t believe (my colleague) and I didn’t believe him even until the next day. When I left him he was in a safer cell with everything in place to keep him safe.”

Mr Barnes was moved from the ‘safer cell’ on December 26th. Mr Seal said this “surprised him”.

The inquest continues and is expected to last two weeks.