A British court has heard the grisly details of how one of the UK’s worst paedophiles was allegedly tortured and murdered in prison by a fellow inmate.
Richard Huckle was sentenced to live out his 22 life sentences for the abuse of nearly 200 children at Full Sutton Prison.
In October last year, fellow inmate, Paul Fitzgerald, allegedly cornered Huckle and wanted him to ‘feel what all those children felt’.
The court has been told of claims Fitzgerald used an electrical cable to strangle the 33-year-old before he jammed a pen into his brain.
By the time another inmate arrived, Huckle had both his feet and hands bound and was also gagged. Fitzgerald was straddling Huckle, who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, according to the BBC. He had severe injuries to his face due to being assaulted with a blunt object and, in particular, there was a stab mark on his neck left by a melted toothbrush.
Fitzgerald accepts killing Huckle by reason of diminished responsibility however has denied the charge of murder against him.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC told the court: “Richard Huckle suffered death as a result of ligature strangulation as part of a sustained attack.
“This was a carefully planned and executed attack, in the course of which Mr Huckle had been subjected to a prolonged attack also designed to humiliate and degrade him.
“[Fitzgerald] said he enjoyed what he was doing to the body of Mr Huckle and that he would have gone on to kill two or three others. The reason he did not was that he was having too much fun with Mr Huckle.”
The court also heard how Fitzgerald ‘murdered Mr Huckle in cold blood and would liked to have cooked bits of his body’ – which is a particularly grim image.
Huckle was three years into his 22 life sentences when he was attacked and murdered.
Britain’s National Crime Agency was tipped off by Australia’s Queensland Police Service about Huckle’s then-alleged crimes, who were conducting an investigating into online child exploitation material.
When Huckle arrived into London in 2014, he was questioned about his activities while authorities seized his camera, mobile phone, laptop and computer hard drives.
He confessed to his parents about his crimes and they kicked him out and called the police. Huckle was found guilty in June 2016 of sexually abusing hundreds of children in Cambodia and Malaysia.
