A MAN from Radcliffe who murdered his estranged wife in Heaton Park died from pancreatic cancer after prison doctors told him he was constipated, an inquest heard.

Brian Oliver, aged 41, died just a few months after being convicted of murder.

He had repeatedly complained of stomach pains to doctors at Strangeways prison, and an inquest at Manchester Crown Court heard that Oliver was initially prescribed paracetamol before finally being rushed to hospital.

There he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the jury heard.

Oliver, of Duke Street, was convicted on February 10 last year of stabbing 32-year-old Joanne Oliver to death in Heaton Park in September, 2010. He was jailed for life.

Linda Taylor, Oliver’s sister, told the inquest that she had written to her brother’s MP, Ivan Lewis, after he complained of ‘massive stomach pains’ and that doctors weren’t giving him enough pain relief.

She told the court: “I think Brian thought that they weren’t taking him seriously enough and that he was trying to get a sick note to get out of his job.”

Mrs Taylor added that her brother had liked his job working in the prison servery and had only wanted to ‘serve his sentence and not be in pain’.

Oliver was eventually rushed to North Manchester General Hospital late in July after turning yellow. There he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer after doctors discovered the disease had spread to his liver.

Oliver was later moved to Bury Hospice on September 13, 2011, and died there later that month.

The inquest is proceeding.