A FATAL accident inquiry into the death of a man has found there was nothing that could have been done to save him.

Paul Matthew Cowan, 41, died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on January 10 this year from complications of end stage liver disease and cirrhosis of the liver.

He had been a prisoner of HMP Low Moss at the time, having been jailed for 32 months at Dumbarton Sheriff Court last August for eight charges of theft from a motor vehicle and two charges of theft of a motor vehicle.

Four months after the sentence, he found out he had terminal liver cancer.

The FAI heard Cowan had longstanding alcoholic liver disease and was offered an appointment to the liver clinic back in September 2016. He failed to attend, and again in December.

By March 2017, when he was on remand in jail and clinically jaundiced, Cowan was referred back to the liver clinic.

He was back and forth between hospital and prison as the months went on, later discharging himself in October against medical advice.

Cowan, from Castlemilk, was taken back to hospital by ambulance weeks later and then informed he would be unlikely to recover unless he had a liver transplant.

Again he discharged himself from hospital against medical advice and returned to prison, and he was warned it posed an “immediate risk to his life”.

On Hogmanay, there was a “code blue” alert when Cowan was found lying on his cell floor. He was taken to hospital and later to the high dependency unit.

Cowan’s wife, Sharon, from Bonhill, who he wed just days before his death, withdrew from the FAI process, reportedly because the inquiry refused to look at the issue of compassionate release and how he was treated in hospital.

She told the national press her husband should have been released from prison to die in peace.

She said: “He was a human being who had the right to die with a bit of dignity. Paul was not a danger to the public and he was not about to run away.”

Sheriff Lindsay Wood, writing her FAI decision, concluded: “Mr Cowan had died of natural causes and nothing could have been done to save his life. He had been treated appropriately throughout his time in HMP Low Moss and at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

“As is always my practice, I formally express my condolences to the deceased’s widow, Mrs Sharon Cowan.”