Man sentenced to 33 years for shocking murder of Hartlepool foster mother dies in HMP Frankland

Drug dealer Gareth Dack was sentenced to 33 years in jail in 2017 for killing 79-year-old Norma Bell at her home in Westbourne Road, Hartlepool, nine years ago.

Teesside Crown Court heard he strangled her before setting fire to her house to try to destroy evidence.

Dack, who was aged 33 when he was jailed and never showed any remorse, died at HMP Frankland in Durham on Easter Monday.

The cause of death is not known, but a prison service spokesperson said: “Gareth Dack died on 21 April 2025 at HMP Frankland.

“As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

The murder of Mrs Bell shocked the community and town in April 2016.

No motive was the brutal crime was ever discovered.

At sentencing the trial judge, Mrs Justice Whipple, told Dack: “You will not acknowledge your act, or show any remorse, or tell [her family] what happened.”

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Mrs Bell was a much-loved mother of nine, including three children of her own and six long term foster children who she treated as her own.

Together with her late husband John, they fostered in excess of 50 babies and toddlers between 1965 and the 1990s.