A JURY will be asked to decide next month how an American serving a life sentence for rape and robbery came to be found dead in his cell at Whitemoor Prison, March. The body of James Foran, 42, was found in his cell at the category A prison on December 10

A JURY will be asked to decide next month how an American serving a life sentence for rape and robbery came to be found dead in his cell at Whitemoor Prison, March.

The body of James Foran, 42, was found in his cell at the category A prison on December 10, 2007. At the time prison authorities believed he had taken a cocktail of drugs in what was believed to have been a suicide pact with another prisoner who survived.

Moran's death came less than three weeks after David Croke, 64, was found hanged in his cell. Croke, from Brighton, was serving a life sentence for the murder. Prison officers found him in his cell with a ligature round his neck and resuscitation attempts failed.

Two other prisoners at Whitemoor, which houses over 400 inmates, took their own lives in the same year.

The inquest into Moran's death opens on October 1 at Wisbech and is expected to last up to 12 days.