A woman who began campaigning for better jail conditions after her daughter died of a drug overdose only hours after being imprisoned was found dead near the grave of the teenager yesterday. The body of Pauline Campbell, 60, was discovered near the entrance to Oakhills cemetery in Malpas, Cheshire.

Prison reformers paid tribute to Mrs Campbell, from Whitchurch, Shropshire, whom they described as an inspiring campaigner and a “human being of indescribable bravery”.

Mrs Campbell, a former lecturer, had been arrested 15 times for protesting outside jails in England and Wales where women inmates had died in self-harm incidents. She held 28 demonstrations and was charged five times for her direct action, which included blocking prison vans, but she was never convicted.

Her daughter Sarah, 18, died from a drug overdose in January 2003. She was the third of six women to die at Styal Prison in 12 months. She died just 24 hours after arriving at the prison following her conviction at Mold Crown Court for the manslaughter of a retired civil servant. She had aggressively begged money for drugs from Amrit Bhandari, 72, who was so frightened that he suffered a heart attack and died. She admitted stealing his wallet and using stolen credit cards.

Juliet Lyon, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “Pauline Campbell campaigned bravely and tirelessly to save other families from having to endure the unbearable pain of losing a child through suicide in prison. Her death makes me so sad. She tried so hard to make a difference.”

Sarah, who became a heroin abuser at 16 and had an abortion before she was 17, was in the segregation unit at the women’s prison but had managed to smuggle in antidepressants.

An inquest found that the prison seemed more concerned with processing prisoners than caring for them, that it had a lack of suitable accommodation for vulnerable prisoners and a lack of structured training for staff.

Mrs Campbell sued the Prison Service under Article Eight of the Human Rights Act. The case was settled out of court in September 2006.

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said that a member of the public had discovered the body of a woman lying in the entrance to the graveyard at Malpas. She said that there were no suspicious circumstances.

Earlier this week Mrs Campbell was informed that the Crown Prosecution Service had dropped charges of obstructing the highway at a protest rally that she led outside Styal Prison.

Mrs Campbell told the Manchester Evening News: “This senseless prosecution was a waste of the court’s time, a scandalous waste of public money and an enormous drain on my emotional health.

“Yet another attempt to criminalise and punish me has failed and the CPS and the Attorney-General have met with a barrage of letters complaining about the vindictive nature of the case, demanding to know how the prosecution could be in the public interest. This prosecution has felt like an attack on my reputation.”

She added: “I believe in standing up for principle because it is one of the few ways in which people can make a difference. I refuse to bow to pressure and will stick to my resolve to hold prison death demonstrations outside jails in England when women kill themselves in the so-called care of the State.”

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