CHILD killer Leslie Bailey, accused of ''despicable'' cruelty in his
abuse of a seven-year-old boy, has been found strangled in his prison
cell.
Mr Andrew Barclay, governor of top security Whitemoor jail in
Cambridgeshire, said Bailey had been threatened during his time in
prison and as a result was held in a special wing along with other
vulnerable prisoners.
Police said they were not ruling out suicide, although they were
treating his death as ''suspicious''.
Detective Superintendent Bob Wordsworth said: ''At this time we are
holding an open inquiry and we are questioning staff and inmates to try
and ascertain when he was last seen alive.''
Mr Barclay said he would be holding an internal inquiry and reviewing
procedures as a result of Bailey's death.
He added: ''Staff behaved very professionally and clearly found the
experience stressful.''
Bailey's body was discovered by prison officers on Thursday night
during lock-up. A ligature was found nearby.
A post-mortem examination revealed that Bailey, 40, from Hackney, died
from strangulation by a ligature.
Bailey, known as Catweazel, was a member of a paedophile ring which
abused and killed three boys and is believed to have murdered up to
nine.
Mr Barclay said: ''During his time in prison there will have been
threats. But over the last few months Bailey has been quite settled.
''The possibility of a self-inflicted injury has not been ruled out.
For a person to be found within a prison system with a ligature nearby
means that we have to treat it as a suspicious death.''
Bailey was given two life sentences last October after pleading guilty
to the manslaughter and buggery of seven-year-old Mark Tildesley, who
vanished after visiting a fairground near his home in Wokingham,
Berkshire, in June 1984. His body has never been found.
At the time, Bailey was already serving a life sentence for the murder
of six-year-old Barry Lewis, abducted near his home in south-east
London, and a further 15-year sentence for the manslaughter of
14-year-old rent boy Jason Swift.
Mr Justice Hidden, passing sentence at Reading Crown Court, told
Bailey that what he had inflicted on Mark Tildesley before his death was
''inhuman, wicked and totally harrowing''.
The Judge added: ''Your cruelty to this defenceless little boy just
before he died was absolutely despicable.''
The boy's father, John, 60, said he was not surprised at the news of
Bailey's death.
''The police tell us what is going on in the prison and I have heard
whispers that other prisoners did not like Bailey because of the awful
crime he had committed.
''I think that he has got his just desserts. There are a lot of people
who were against him for murdering my son.''
He added: ''If I found out who strangled him, I would shake hands with
him.
''Whoever did it, did a good job. They saved the Government and the
taxpayers a lot of money.
''A life for a life, as it says in the Bible. That is the way it
should be.''
Mr Tildesley admitted it reduced the chances of finding his son's
body.
''We keep on hoping that we will find out where he was buried so we
can give him a proper resting place. But it is yet another link broken.
''My wife hasn't worked since the boy's death. Obviously it still
affects us every day.''
Bailey was sent to Whitemoor in 1992. The prison said the regime on
the wings was ''open and active''.
Detective Superintendent Wordsworth told a news conference at March
police station that there were no specific signs of a struggle.
He added that it was possible to strangle oneself.
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