A transgender woman has been found hanged in her cell at a male prison.
Jenny Swift, previously known as Jonathan, was remanded into a male prison after being charged with attempted murder.
She was found dead at HMP Doncaster, South Yorks, on December 30, and is thought to have taken her own life.
The 49-year-old was remanded into custody on November 17 after being charged with stabbing 26-year-old Eric Flanagan at a property in Balby, Doncaster, two days earlier.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed Swift's death and said the MoJ was aware that Swift was transgender when she was remanded into the Category B private men's prison at Marshgate.
No explanation has been given on the decision to place Swift at HMP Doncaster, but a MoJ spokesman confirmed a Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigation into the case is now under way.
They added: "Self-inflicted deaths are a tragedy and mental health in custody is taken extremely seriously. We have a range of measures already in place to help support prisoners suffering from these issues. But we recognise more can be done.
"That is why we have allocated more funding for prison safety and have launched a suicide and self-harm reduction project to address the increase in self-inflicted deaths and self-harm in our prison."
Swift, of Liverpool, was initially charged with attempted murder in connection with the incident on November 15, but following the death of Mr Flanagan on December 15 police passed the case to the Crown Prosecution Service to upgrade the charge to murder.
Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Short, the Senior Investigating officer, said: "On December 30 we were made aware that the person charged in this investigation had died.
However, the inquiry into Mr Flanagan's death remains ongoing at this time."
Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.
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