'Evil brute' murderer who stabbed mum-of-3 to death found dead in prison cell
A murderer who killed a mum of three he was trying to rob was found in his cell after a number of health conditions, it has been confirmed.
Evil Philip Huggins was serving a life sentence at notorious HMP Frankland for the murder of Cecilia Nightingale, 56, after breaking into her home in Oxford and stabbing her three times in the neck.
The 66-year-old convicted killer died of cardiorespiratory arrest after cries for help were heard coming from his cell in the County Durham high-security jail. Huggins, a report reveals, had a list of health ailments including high blood pressure.
He was transferred to Frankland - a prison which has housed the likes of Peter Sutcliffe, Levi Bellfield and Ian Huntley - in 2017 before he was discovered dead by a prison guard on June 23 last year. Moments earlier, a fellow inmate reported hearing a shout for help.
When the guard arrived, Huggins was found on his cell floor with blood on his back, Chronicle Live reports.
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Killer Huggins had been jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years in 2005 for the horrific murder of Ms Nightingale, with a judge branding him an "evil brute".
Jailing him at the time, the judge noted reports of Huggins' ill health, telling him that he would likely die in prison.
A probe by the Prisons and Probations Ombudsman into Huggins' death found that, a month before his death, he had complained of chest pains and an irregular heartbeat to a prison nurse.
Paramedics carried out ECG scans which revealed a change in his heart rhythm and he was transferred to hospital, but returned to the Category A prison.
Days before his death, he also complained of "dizziness" after supposedly falling and suffering a knock to the head.
The report says: "At about 4.20am on 23 June, a prisoner who lived two cells away from Mr Huggins heard someone shout 'help' twice. The prisoner said that the shout came from a nearby cell, but he could not be certain which one."
The report continues: "At about 6.45am, an officer carried out another roll check. He looked into Mr Huggins’ cell and saw him lying on the floor, with blood on his back.
"The officer radioed a medical emergency code blue (which indicates that a prisoner is unconscious or not breathing). The officer shouted through the cell door, but Mr Huggins did not move. The officer did not open the cell door but waited for prison staff to arrive."
A supervising officer, a custodial manager and two nurses later arrived and went into the cell where Huggins was found unresponsive. He had no pulse, his pupils were dilated, he was cold and had pale skin. At 7.40am, paramedics confirmed that he had died.
Following the investigation, Acting Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Kimberley Bingham highlighted concerns, saying: "It is concerning that prison staff did not provide the CCTV footage for 23 June. This meant that we could not fully explore whether a roll check, conducted around an hour before Mr Huggins was found collapsed in his cell, was completed in line with expected standards.
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"This was particularly important in this case as a prisoner who lived close to Mr Huggins’ cell told us that he heard a shout for 'help' earlier in the night. I am also concerned that the officer who found Mr Huggins unresponsive did not open the cell door to attend to him until a prison manager and healthcare staff arrived."
A post-mortem examination established that Huggins died from cardiorespiratory arrest. The clinical reviewer concluded that the care that he received at HMP Frankland was of a "good standard" and was "equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community".
The report has urged prison governors to supply the watchdog with any necessary CCTV footage following deaths in custody, as well as making sure staff are "made aware of and understand their responsibilities during a medical emergency".
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Frankland has implemented all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations including updating guidance to all staff members on how to deal with medical emergencies.”
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