Inmate admits disembowelling and murdering child rapist in prison cell attack

6-22-2012 United Kingdom:

Mitchell Harrison, 23, was killed at Frankland Prison where he was being held for raping a 13-year-old girl. He was killed with makeshift weapons, thought to be razor blades melted into toothbrush handles. Prisoner Michael Parr, 32, has now pleaded guilty to his murder

A prisoner has admitted disembowelling and murdering a child rapist during a brutal attack at a top-security jail.

Mitchell Harrison, 23, was serving an indefinite sentence at Frankland Prison, Durham, for raping a 13-year-old girl when he was brutally killed last October.

He was attacked with makeshift weapons, thought to be razor blades melted into toothbrush handles.

His bloodied body was found in his cell by warders.

Speaking shortly after his murder, a source close to the prison said: ‘To all intents and purposes he had been disembowelled. There was blood everywhere.'

Michael Parr, 32, pleaded guilty to murder during a brief hearing at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday via videolink from prison.

Nathan Mann, 23, is also charged with Harrison’s murder but he did not appear before the court.

Harrison, from Wolverhampton, was jailed in January 2010 for raping a girl in Cumbria.

He was jailed at Carlisle Crown Court indefinitely and was put on the sex offenders’ register for life.

A pathologist found that he had died of 'multiple injuries' and his death led to the prison being criticised.

Criminology expert Professor David Wilson, of Birmingham City University, said the extremely violent nature of the attack was significant.

He said: ‘The question is how can something like this take place in Frankland and why didn’t the staff protect him?’

The judge who sent Harrison to prison said he posed a ‘substantial risk’ to young girls.

He lured his teenage victim to his flat in Kendal, Cumbria, in 2009. Once inside he ordered her to strip before raping her twice.

It was the third time Harrison had been in trouble for sexually assaulting girls.

When he was 13 he was given a formal warning for indecently assaulting a seven-year-old and when he was 15 he was taken to court for threatening to rape a 15-year-old classmate.

After his murder, Harrison’s family released a statement saying: 'Although we never condoned his past actions, he was serving his time and was by all accounts a model, trusted prisoner who did not deserve to die in this horrific way.'

Parr will be sentenced on July 12. ..Source.. by Anthony Bond

Two inmates charged with murder after 'disembowelled' paedophile is killed in jail attack

10-3-2011 United Kingdom:

Nathan Mann, 23, and Michael Parr, 32, charged with murdering Mitchell Harrison, 23;
Soham killer Ian Huntley had his throat slashed at same prison last year

Two prisoners have appeared in court charged with the murder of a paedophile inmate who died after being disembowelled in an attack in his cell.

Nathan Mann, 23, and Michael Parr, 32, spoke only to confirm their names at the five-minute hearing at Peterlee Magistrates Court.

They are accused of killing Mitchell Harrison, 23, at high-security Frankland Prison, in County Durham - where last year Soham killer Ian Huntley was slashed in the throat by a fellow inmate.

Serial sex attacker Harrison was killed with makeshift weapons, thought to be razor blades melted into toothbrush handles.

Harrison, who was sentenced in January 2010 to a minimum of four-and-a-half years for raping a 13-year-old girl, was found by warders shortly after 10am on Saturday.

A source close to the prison said: ‘To all intents and purposes he had been disembowelled. There was blood everywhere.

‘We are still trying to work out the exact chain of events.’

Magistrates set Mann and Parr's case to be heard at Newcastle Crown Court, where the pair will next appear on Wednesday.

Harrison was jailed indefinitely at Carlisle Crown Court in January last year as the judge said he posed a ‘substantial risk’ to young girls.

He lured his teenage victim to his flat in Kendal, Cumbria. Once inside he ordered her to strip before raping her twice.

It was the third time Harrison, originally from Wolverhampton, had been in trouble for sexually assaulting girls.

When he was 13 he was given a formal warning for indecently assaulting a seven-year-old and when he was 15 he was taken to court for threatening to rape a 15-year-old classmate.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Chapman, of Durham Police, said a pathologist found Harrison had died of ‘multiple injuries’.

Last night criminology expert Professor David Wilson, of Birmingham City University, said the extremely violent nature of the attack was significant.

He said: ‘The question is how can something like this take place in Frankland and why didn’t the staff protect him?’

The Ministry of Justice said the incident was a matter for police. ..Source.. by Chris Greenwood and Paul Sims