Alexander Boy

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Independent investigation into the
death of Mr Alexander Boy,
on 13 April 2025, following his
release from HMP Wandsworth
A report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
Third Floor, 10 South Colonnade Email: mail@ppo.gov.uk T l 020 7633 4100
Canary Wharf, London E14 4PU Web: www.ppo.gov.uk
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© Crown copyright, 2026
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Summary
1. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman aims to make a significant contribution to
safer, fairer custody and community supervision. One of the most important ways in
which we work towards that aim is by carrying out independent investigations into
deaths, due to any cause, of prisoners, young people in detention, residents of
approved premises and detainees in immigration centres.
2. Since 6 September 2021, the PPO has been investigating post-release deaths that
occur within 14 days of the person’s release from prison.
3. If my office is to best assist HMPPS in ensuring the standard of care received by
those within service remit is appropriate then our recommendations should be
focused, evidenced and viable. This is especially the case if there is evidence of
systemic process failures.
4. Mr Alexander Boy died on 13 April 2025, following his release from HMP
Wandsworth on 31 March. His cause of death was recorded as acute cardiac failure
caused by cocaine toxicity. Mr Boy was 30 years old. We offer our condolences to
his family and friends.
5. Mr Boy spent around five weeks in prison. He was appropriately referred to
community drug and alcohol services on release and engaged with them before his
death. Probation staff recorded positive interactions with Mr Boy following his
release and he appeared to be committed to living drug and alcohol free. We are
satisfied that probation staff engaged appropriately with Mr Boy and did all they
could to support his substance use issues.
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The Investigation Process
6. We were informed of Mr Boy’s death on 16 April 2025.
7. The PPO investigator obtained copies of relevant extracts from Mr Boy’s prison and
probation records.
8. We informed HM Coroner for Kent of the investigation. The Coroner gave us the
results of the post-mortem examination. We have sent the Coroner a copy of this
report.
9. The Ombudsman’s office contacted Mr Boy’s sister to explain the investigation and
to ask if she had any matters she wanted us to consider. Mr Boy’s sister asked why
Mr Boy was fitted with a GPS tag on release from prison rather than an alcohol
monitoring tag. She asked about a drugs test that Mr Boy took following release and
why she was not initially considered the next of kin.
10. Mr Boy’s sister received a copy of the initial report. She raised a number of issues,
that did not impact on the factual accuracy of our investigation, that we have
responded to in separate correspondence.
11. The prison also received a copy of the report and asked that we clarified the tagging
officer is not an employee of HMP Wandsworth.
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Background Information
HMP Wandsworth
12. HMP Wandsworth is a local category B and C prison in London. It holds men in
eight residential wings. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust provides physical and mental
healthcare services at the prison. There is 24-hour healthcare and the mental health
team are contracted throughout this time.
Probation Service
13. The Probation Service work with all individuals over 18 years of age subject to
custodial and community sentences. (Children under 18 are managed by the local
Youth Offending Team.) During a person’s imprisonment, they oversee their
sentence plan to assist in rehabilitation, as well as prepare reports to advise the
Parole Board and have links with local partnerships to whom, where appropriate,
they refer people for resettlement services. Post-release, the Probation Service
supervise people throughout their licence period and post-sentence supervision.
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Key Events
14. On 24 February 2025, Mr Alexander Boy was convicted of assaulting an emergency
worker and sentenced to three months in prison. He had been to prison before. Mr
Boy spent all of the custodial part of his sentence at HMP Wandsworth.
15. Mr Boy was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was prescribed quetiapine (an
antipsychotic). He had a history of alcohol use, which was often linked to his
offending behaviour, and also told prison staff that he had previously used drugs.
Prison staff referred Mr Boy to Change Grow Live (CGL, a provider of drug and
alcohol support services in prison and the community).
16. On 18 March, Mr Boy attended a CGL assessment. Staff recorded that he
expressed a lack of interest in the process and said that he found the meeting
unproductive.
17. On 20 March, Mr Boy’s community offender manager (COM) submitted a referral for
Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 accommodation (CAS3, providing
temporary accommodation for up to 12 weeks for individuals leaving prison who are
at risk of homelessness). Mr Boy was allocated accommodation before his release.
18. On the same day, Mr Boy told staff that he was now happy to engage with CGL. He
said that he had stopped taking his antipsychotic medication in prison but would
now restart the prescription.
19. On 31 March, Mr Boy was released from prison on licence. His licence conditions
included for him to wear an alcohol monitoring tag (to track an individual’s alcohol
consumption by measuring sweat for alcohol levels), to refrain from drinking alcohol
and to engage with CGL. Healthcare staff arranged for Mr Boy’s prescription to
continue on release.
20. Before his release, a tagging officer (this is not a prison process and is an
outsourced service) fitted Mr Boy with a GPS tag (which monitors the individual’s
location), rather than an alcohol monitoring tag, having seemingly mixed him up
with another prisoner.
Post Release
21. On 31 March, Mr Boy attended his release appointment with his COM and told her
that the wrong tag had been fitted. The COM noted that he was fully aware that he
could not drink alcohol and that he had various appointments over the following
week that he would attend. After the meeting, the COM contacted the Electronic
Monitoring Service (EMS) to highlight the mistake with Mr Boy’s tag and to ask for it
to be rectified. EMS arranged for an alcohol tag to be fitted that night. Due to
contract restrictions with the GPS tag provider, they could not visit a private
residence to remove that tag and it was therefore arranged for them to remove the
GPS tag at Mr Boy’s next probation appointment (on 8 April).
22. On the same day, Mr Boy attended an initial appointment with CGL. He moved into
his CAS3 accommodation and completed their induction. In the evening, Serco staff
visited to fit an alcohol monitoring tag.
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23. On 2 April, the COM spoke to Mr Boy on the telephone and noted that he seemed
positive. Mr Boy said that he had registered with a GP, was continuing to take his
medication and that his mental health was “really well”. He said that his
appointment with CGL went very well.
24. On 8 April, Mr Boy attended an appointment at the probation office, after which his
GPS tag was removed. Mr Boy gave a drug sample which was sent off for testing.
(The results were not available until after Mr Boy’s death and later came back as
negative.) Mr Boy said that drugs were not an issue for him but that alcohol was. He
said that he was currently abstinent from alcohol and planned to remain so after his
licence expiry date. Mr Boy spoke positively about the effects that sobriety had on
his lifestyle and relationships, and said that his mental health remained well.
25. On the same day, Mr Boy completed a telephone appointment with CGL. (This
appointment would usually be in-person, but was completed over the telephone due
to renovation works at the CGL office.)
26. On 9 April, the COM spoke to Mr Boy on the telephone. She noted that he sounded
positive, confirmed his engagement with CGL and said that he had started
attending a gym. Mr Boy said that his mental and physical health were good and
that he felt positive for the future. He said that he had had a job interview and had
another later in the week.
Circumstances of Mr Boy’s death
27. On 14 April, Mr Boy was found deceased in his CAS3 property, after neighbours
raised concerns. Police estimated that he might have died the previous day,
although his exact time and date of death is uncertain. Police noted that they found
drugs in the property.
28. Mr Boy’s had named his step-father as next of kin, and the police therefore notified
him of the death.
Post-mortem report
29. The post-mortem examination concluded that the cause of death was acute cardiac
failure due to cocaine toxicity.
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Findings
30. Mr Boy had a history of alcohol use and had also previously used drugs. During his
short time at Wandsworth, he seemingly remained drug and alcohol free. While he
engaged poorly with CGL at his initial assessment, Mr Boy became more positive
about working with them and engaged fully following his release.
31. As well as working with CGL following his release, Mr Boy engaged positively with
his probation appointments and appeared to be progressing well. Staff who had
contact with him after his release had no suspicions that he was using alcohol or
drugs (and the results of the drug test came back negative after his death). We are
satisfied that prison and probation staff took appropriate action to support Mr Boy to
remain drug and alcohol free.
32. An error by the tagging officer on the day of his release meant that Mr Boy was
mistakenly fitted with a GPS tag rather than an alcohol monitoring tag. Mr Boy’s
COM took immediate action when Mr Boy highlighted the mistake, and the correct
tag was fitted that same day. While this appears to be a case of human error, the
Governor will want to ensure that there are appropriate systems in place to quality
assure the fitting of monitoring tags ahead of release.
Inquest
33. The inquest into Mr Boy’s death concluded on 10 December 2025 and concluded
that his death was drug related.
Adrian Usher
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman February 2026
6 Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
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Third Floor, 10 South Colonnade Email: mail@ppo.gov.uk T l 020 7633 4100
Canary Wharf, London E14 4PU Web: www.ppo.gov.uk
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