A VIOLENT Gourock offender has died in jail less than a fortnight after being locked up for a series of life-endangering assaults on a woman.

The Scottish Prison Service today confirmed that 47-year-old inmate Marc Cox had died at HMP Low Moss, near Glasgow, on Saturday, August 31.

Cox was jailed for three years at Greenock Sheriff Court on August 19 after a jury found him guilty of three indictment charges, including attacks on a female complainer and on a young child.

A fatal accident inquiry will be held into Cox's death, a legal requirement for all deaths in custody in Scotland.

Following a trial in July, Cox was convicted of a catalogue of crimes including repeatedly choking the woman and restricting her breathing on various occasions between January 2009 and December 2014 at addresses in Inverclyde.

The Telegraph reported last week that in one incident, Cox, previously of Cardwell Road in Gourock, grabbed the woman by her neck and compressed it until she was rendered unconscious.

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He also pinned a young child against a wall by the neck to the danger of their life in 2010.

A non-harassment order was also imposed in respect of each of the victims, meaning he would not have been allowed to contact or communicate with them for the next three years.

His death is the 40th recorded in custody in Scotland so far this year, and the fifth at the Bishopbriggs jail in 2024.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual.

“Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the procurator fiscal.

"Fatal accident inquiries are held in due course.”