A prisoner was released from HMP Bristol due to "human error" shortly before his death in Reading - but this mistake did not have a "significant" impact on his death, according to the prisons watchdog. 

Jamie Andrews from Reading had been sentenced to three weeks in prison for theft in November 2022, but he was also remanded in custody to await trial on charges of burglary, fraud and shoplifting on the same date.

Mr Andrews, who had 50 prior convictions, was released from HMP Bristol by mistake after “human error” meant his remand warrant was not printed out and checked, according to an inquest hearing earlier this year. 

Mr Andrews was found dead on Baker Street, in Reading, three days after his release. He was 49 years old. 

The inquest into Mr Andrews’ death concluded last month, finding that he died due to a combination of drug related and natural causes - with his erroneous release contributing to his death.

The Reading resident's daughter had expressed concern that her father may not have died in 2022 had he not been released from prison by mistake, according to a report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Now the prison watchdog has found that the erroneous release was "unlikely" to have had a significant impact. 

Writing in a report on the incident, a representative from the ombudsman said: "If Mr Andrews had not been released in error, it is likely that he would not have been able to access, at that point, the range of illicit substances found in his system after he died.

"However, he would in all likelihood have been released at some point from HMP Bristol and given his cause of death was heart disease, on the balance of probabilities this error is unlikely to have had a significant impact on the eventual outcome."

The watchdog said the prison governor and the head of the Offender Management Services at Bristol will want "to consider whether any changes to existing processes" would have prevented Mr Andrews being released in error.