The 13 murderers and sex offenders who died behind bars at Monster Mansion

Wakefield Prison is a category A (maximum security) men’s prison that houses some of the country’s worst criminals and rapists.

The prison, most of which is made up of Victorian-era buildings, houses around 600 of Britain’s most dangerous men, mainly sex offenders, murderers and those serving life sentences.

Over the years, the prison – called the Monster Mansion – has housed several high-profile and notorious prisoners, some of whom have died while in custody.

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Below are some of the prisoners who saw their last days in HMP Wakefield.

Harold Shipman

Murderous doctor Harold Shipman was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison in 2004.

The man nicknamed Dr Death – who became Britain’s most notorious serial killer – took his own life.

Shipman is serving life for killing 15 patients, but police and health officials believe he may have killed at least 215 people over the years. He was found dead in his cell on January 13, 2004, one day before his 58th birthday.

An inquest jury ruled that Shipman committed suicide because he could not face the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

A 10-day inquest at Leeds Crown Court heard Shipman threatened to take his own life on several occasions and kept a secret diary which revealed a man in “deep despair”.

Colin Ireland

Evil Colin Ireland was one of Britain’s worst serial killers. He was given the name “Gay Slayer” after he posed as gay to break into the homes of five men in the summer of 1993.

He targeted gay men, presumably because of his own repressed homosexuality, and posed as a gay man browsing the Coleherne gay pub in Fulham. After being invited back to the men’s homes, he will take part in S&M sex games before killing them.

When his killing spree ended, Ireland spent 29 years languishing in Yorkshire’s Monster Mansion – HMP Wakefield.

Ireland’s story came to an end when he died aged 57 of natural causes in Wakefield Prison Health Center in 2012.

Victor Farrant

Farrant, a rapist serving a life sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend, died in Wakefield in May this year. He was 74 years old.

Farrant was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Glenda Hoskins, 44, in Portsmouth and the attempted murder of Ann Fidler, 45, in Eastleigh in 1996.

He fled and was eventually found in France.

Gene Benjamin

Dangerous sex offender Gene Benjamin targeted women over many years and in 2011, when he was 53, was convicted of seven counts of rape and nine counts of assault between 2005 and 2010.

He targeted women in Bournemouth, Dorset, and was described by police as one of the county’s most dangerous sex offenders. A court heard that Benjamin strangled and raped his victims, attacked them with hammers and knives and cut their hair.

He died in Wakefield Prison in 2022, aged 64, after suffering heart failure.

Wayne Spencer Franks

Wayne Spencer Franks was 20 when he stabbed elderly widow Mabel Whitelam 22 times after she answered the door for him in March 2003. Franks called himself “the Devil’s chosen”.

After killing Mabel, heroin addict Franks ransacked her home and stole £80. Franks denied murdering Mabel, but was found guilty after a trial. Police believe he targeted Mabel on her retirement day.

Franks, 47, formerly of Grimsby, was found dead on his bed in his cell at Wakefield maximum security prison on December 5, 2022, after taking a large dose of dihydrocodeine which is believed to have purchased it from another inmate because it was not prescribed to him.

Stephen Beadman

Stephen Beadman was jailed for the rape and murder of 15-year-old schoolgirl Kayleigh Haywood in November 2015. Kayleigh had tried to escape from a flat after being groomed online, but was followed by Beadman, raped and then beaten to death, it was reported that. .

He served at least 35 years in Wakefield Prison. Beadman, 34, was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison on April 7, 2021. He died in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, the following day. A report by the Prisons Ombudsman found that Beadman had been bullied by other prisoners because of the nature of his offending. Beadman had complained that national media coverage of his case put him at risk from other prisoners.

Raymond Whittaker

Raymond Whittaker killed two people in a house on a quiet street in Bridlington just days before Christmas in 1999. The crime was described as a gruesome, gangland-style murder.

Whittaker was later sentenced to 23 years in prison, meaning he will never see freedom again. He was 36 years old at the time.

He died in Wakefield Prison in 2023.

Robin Crago

Robin Crago, 65, was jailed in 2006 for raping a teenage girl and other sexual offences, the MEN reported. He was labeled a “dangerous sexual predator” by a judge.

He died in hospital while serving a life sentence at Wakefield Prison.

Thomas Wolens

Thomas Wolens, jailed for life after being convicted of murder and robbery in 1988, spent time in several prisons before being moved to HMP Wakefield.

He died aged 67 after contracting Covid-19 in 2021.

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Colin Cheetham

Gun fanatic Colin Cheetham killed taxi driver Stuart Ludlam at Cromford station in Derbyshire in 2009.

The 71-year-old did not know his victim and appeared to have had no motive other than wanting to shoot a “complete stranger”, his trial heard. He died in Wakefield Prison in 2020.

David Charles Zold

Zold was jailed for a campaign of abuse carried out against four young men in the 1970s and 1980s. A court was told Zold gained the trust of the children’s parents before taking them to his home, where he showed them pornography and made them have sex.

He died in Wakefield Prison, aged 72, in March 2023.

Keith Fairbrother

Keith Fairbrother, who is serving 17 years for sex offenses including rape, arrived at Yorkshire Prison with a number of long-term conditions, including high blood pressure. He died of a blood clot in his heart on 4 June 2022, aged 59, just 10 days after arriving in Wakefield from HMP Lewes in East Sussex.

Frank Stagg

Stagg was a Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger striker from County Mayo, Ireland who died in Wakefield Prison in 1976 after 62 days on hunger strike.

He had been arrested in 1973 and convicted for his involvement in IRA activities in Coventry. He went on hunger strike in Wakefield and demanded an end to solitary confinement and repatriation to prison in Ireland. His requests were refused by the British government.