Wayne Cannon, a notorious armed robber from Kent, passed away after collapsing in the showers at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire, according to a report by the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman. Cannon had a history of criminal convictions and substance abuse when he was incarcerated in 2019 for knifepoint robberies at a fish and chip shop in Margate and a Boots pharmacy in Westgate-on-Sea.
The report indicates that on July 8, 2022, while at HMP Bullingdon, Cannon entered the communal shower area around 3:30 pm and subsequently collapsed. Fellow inmates discovered him and promptly alerted prison staff, who placed him in the recovery position. Despite these efforts, Cannon remained unresponsive and began experiencing a cardiac arrest. Prison paramedics arrived on the scene and initiated resuscitation attempts with a defibrillator. However, it was determined that the emergency services’ response was delayed by 12 minutes due to security protocols that required them to remove their smartwatches.
The ambulance finally left Bullingdon at 5:42 pm, arriving at John Radcliffe Hospital 52 minutes later with Cannon accompanied by two escort officers and unrestrained. Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated, and he passed away six days later. A post-mortem examination was not conducted, but an inquest on November 16 attributed his cause of death to a hypoxic brain injury resulting from cardiac arrest, a heart attack, and dilated cardiomyopathy.
Cannon’s history included daily heroin use, chest pain complaints, hypertension, and COPD when he arrived at Bullingdon in May 2022. The report concluded that the care he received while incarcerated was on par with that provided outside of prison. However, it highlighted the need to review local security procedures for emergency response staff and vehicles to prevent avoidable delays during emergencies.
Cannon’s criminal activities involved armed robberies in Margate and Westgate-on-Sea, where he threatened employees with a knife and made off with cash and prescription medication. His actions led to his imprisonment in 2019.
