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Inmate who killed Britain's 'worst paedophile' for 'poetic justice' jailed

Paul Fitzgerald, left, has been jailed for life for killing Richard Huckle, known as "Britain's worst paedophile". (Reach/Reuters/NCA)
Paul Fitzgerald, left, has been jailed for life for killing Richard Huckle, known as "Britain's worst paedophile". (Reach/Reuters/NCA)

A prisoner who murdered a fellow inmate dubbed “Britain’s worst paedophile” has been jailed for life for the killing, which he described as “poetic justice”.

Paul Fitzgerald said he wanted Richard Huckle, who was convicted of offences against 191 children, to “feel what all those children had felt” in the assault at HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire.

He choked Huckle with an electrical cable sheath and stabbed him in the brain with a pen in an attack designed to “humiliate and degrade” the paedophile, and also claimed to have sexually assaulted him, Hull Crown Court heard.

Fitzgerald, 30, was convicted on Monday of Huckle’s murder and he was sentenced to a minimum of 34 years on Tuesday at the same court.

The criminal, whose previous convictions for violent and sexual offences include the false imprisonment of a female prison officer, laughed throughout the sentencing and appeared to yawn as his sentence was read out.

Mr Justice Lavender told him: “You are a psychopath and derive pleasure from fantasising about raping, torturing, killing and even eating others.

“In this case you derived pleasure from acting out your fantasy.

Paul Fitzgerald has been jailed for murdering Richard Huckle. (Reach)
Paul Fitzgerald has been jailed for murdering Richard Huckle. (Reach)
British national Richard Huckle is seen after his arrest on multiple charges of sexual abuse of children in an image handed out by Britain's National Crime Agency June 2, 2016.    NCA/Handout via REUTERS/File photoATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY.     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Richard Huckle, who abused 191 children, was killed in prison. (Reuters/NCA)

“You intended to rape and kill Mr Huckle, you did this for your own pleasure and to inflict what you called poetic justice on a convicted paedophile.

“You have revelled in the attention you received as a result of the killing.”

During trial, Alistair MacDonald QC, prosecuting, said “predatory paedophile” Huckle was “notorious in the press” after being extradited to the UK for sexual assaults against children, some being as young as six months.

He was given 22 life sentences for the crimes in 2016, having said he would target poor children in Malaysia that he believed were easier to go after than wealthier Westerners.

The freelance photographer from Ashford, Kent, gave himself “pedopoints” for the abuse he committed and sold images on the dark web.

After being arrested upon his return to the UK from Australia, he was branded as “Britain’s worst paedophile” in the press.

Watch: Richard Huckle - portrait of a paedophile

The court was told Fitzgerald had brought items including a melted toothbrush with a screw inserted and objects used as a ligature and bindings for his victim’s hands and feet to Huckle’s cell.

The attack on 13 October lasted 78 minutes.

MacDonald said: “He felt that it was poetic justice and he wanted Richard Huckle to feel what all those children had felt.

“He said that Richard Huckle was a man who raped and abused children for fun and that he suspected that Richard Huckle had done more than merely rape his victims.”

Fitzgerald is on trial at Hull Crown Court. (Anna Gowthorpe/PA)
Fitzgerald was sentenced at Hull Crown Court. (Anna Gowthorpe/PA)

“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.”

The court heard Fitzgerald told staff at HMP Full Sutton that he “enjoyed” attacking Huckle in the October 2019 murder and wanted to kill more inmates but was “having too much fun”.

MacDonald said he told a doctor that he “felt as high as a kite when he had done it and felt amazing and that he would recommend it to anyone”.

Read more: Man who murdered one-year-old baby found dead in prison

He claimed he wanted to cook parts of Huckle’s body but later denied murder, saying medical conditions including mixed personality disorder, psychopathy and gender identity disorder impaired his self-control.

Fitzgerald said he thought about torture, rape and murder constantly and claimed he didn’t have the ability to control himself, the court heard.

He told doctors he had sexually assaulted Huckle, but had not found him attractive.

“I don’t have the ability to look at people and see them as human beings. I don’t value them, I don’t care about them,” the court heard he has said.

“I don’t feel bad about hurting people, I don’t have the capacity to feel remorse.”

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