A robber charged with killing a pensioner was found hanging in his prison cell after he was told his girlfriend would not be visiting him that morning.

Drug addict Charles Wolfe, 29, was in Lewes Prison awaiting trial on charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, an inquest heard.

He had already been convicted of attempted robbery on a Billinghurst post office.

Shortly after the robbery 69-year-old Margaret Hopkins died after being knocked to the ground. Mr Wolfe was facing years behind bars.

Yesterday a jury at Lewes Magistrates' Court was told Mr Wolfe was a schizophrenic with suicidal tendencies and prone to aggressive outbursts.

He had been transferred to the prison's health centre after telling wardens he had been beaten up by inmates who discovered why he was in prison.

On Sunday, February 24, 2002, he telephoned his girlfriend Matilda Carrigan, 23, who had failed to visit him that morning.

When he discovered she was not visiting him that day he flew into a rage and punched a piece of Perspex hanging from the wall.

After being led back to his cell Wolfe, of Bishop Lane, Henfield, tied a bed sheet around his neck and hanged himself from the bars.

Paramedics brought him round but he died the next day at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. The inquest was adjourned until August 15.