HMP Frankland prisoner serving life for Hartlepool murder intended to take own life, jury finds
A prisoner serving life for a Hartlepool murder took his own life, a jury has concluded.
Gareth Ian Dack, 41, was found dead in his cell in Durham’s Frankland prison early on the morning of April 21 last year.
He was eight years into a 33-year minimum sentence for the murder of Norma Bell, a Hartlepool pensioner and former foster mother, in April 2016.
An inquest at Crook Civic Centre this week heard Dack died as a result of hanging.
After listening to two days’ of evidence, the jury of eight women and three men concluded he intended to take his own life.
They recorded that during his time in prison Dack had an “extensive range of complex mental health needs” including anxiety and paranoia caused by a stoma he received in 2020 and prison life in general.
The inquest heard evidence that from April 2025 he appeared more erratic approaching the anniversary of his offence and he refused to see mental health staff.
On April 14, a multi-disciplinary safety plan was started after Dack claimed to have taken an overdose which turned out not to be the case.
Summarising the evidence, County Durham and Darlington coroner Crispin Oliver said: “This decline was triggered by the anniversary of his offence and feelings of guilt and remorse and being a burden to his family.”
The safety plan was closed after three days when Dack’s appearance appeared much improved and he was assessed as low risk of self-harm and suicide.
He was last seen alive at a roll call around 9pm on April 20 but was found unresponsive by a prison officer at around 5.50am the following morning.
He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 6.24am. The foreman of the jury said: “In his cell a letter of intent was found addressed to his family with farewell messages, apologies and intentions to end his own life.”
He also expressed remorse for the crime he had committed.
Mr Oliver said Dack was an experienced prisoner who “knew the chances of rescue of not nil, then certainly negligible.”
The foreman confirmed the jury’s unanimous conclusion was one of suicide.
Mr Oliver thanked them for performing their “important civic duty”.
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