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27
Jun
Parole Board recommends Harrogate killer be moved to open prison
Warning: this article contains details some readers may find very distressing.
A Harrogate killer looks set to be moved to open prison.
Martin Bell was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 19, 2014, after pleading guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
His conviction at Leeds Crown Court came more than a decade after he killed 23-year-old Gemma Simpson at his flat in Harrogate.
Bell brutally attacked Gemma, with whom he had been obsessed with for years, on May 5, 2000.
After burying Gemma’s remains at Brimham Rocks in Nidderdale, Bell returned to the site on numerous occasions in the years following to check they had not been disturbed.
The case went unsolved for 14 years, until Bell walked into Scarborough Police Station and confessed.
Justice Collier handed Bell a life sentence with a minimum term of 12 years behind bars. Bell spent 160 days on remand before the sentencing, which were deducted from his final sentence, meaning the overall minimum term was reduced to 11 years and 205 days.
This was 10-and-a-half years ago and Bell is eligible for release next year.
A Parole Board hearing to consider if he was eligible to be transferred to a category D prison was held on June 12.
Category D prisons – often known as open prisons – are the lowest security prisons and allow inmates to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence.
Prisoners must be assessed and deemed suitable to be eligible, but Gemma’s sister previously told the Stray Ferret her family had never been shown any evidence of Bell’s reform.
In a decision summary issued yesterday (June 26), the Parole Board said a panel reviewed the extent to which Bell has made “sufficient progress” towards addressing and reducing risk to a level consistent with protecting the public from harm.
He also had to be assessed as a low risk of absconding, the summary says.
Bell appeared via video link during the hearing, when he indicated to the panel that he hoped to be transferred to an open prison.
The panel heard evidence from the supervisor of Bell’s case in prison, a psychologist employed by the prison service, a psychiatrist and a keyworker at the prison.
Bell, who was not legally represented during the hearing, also gave evidence.
The panel heard a victim impact statement, which, according to the Parole Board, Bell read and “realised the terrible effects of his offending upon the family of the victim”.
Gemma Simpson. Credit: West Yorkshire Police
Bell ‘open and honest with professionals’, panel found
According to the summary report, Bell had been in abusive relationships throughout his life and struggled with his mental health due to drug misuse.
Bell killed Gemma some six weeks after being released from psychiatric care, but the panel believed Bell “now recognises he had been acutely unwell” at the time.
Evidence regarding Bell’s time in custody was shared with the panel, which found “no significant concerns” had been raised about his behaviour in prison.
The report adds:
He had undertaken a substantial therapeutic intervention between 2017 and 2019, which helped Mr Bell to recognise and address a wide range of problems. Mr Bell then engaged with a specialist regime for two years but was deselected following an argument with another prisoner.
After this, Mr Bell joined another specialist regime designed to help people address their problems. The panel heard that he had made good progress, completing all the requirements of the prison.
The witnesses did not feel there was a need for further “offence-focused work” in a closed prison and recommended to the panel that Bell be progressed to an open prison.
Bell told the panel the work in custody had “helped him to better understand himself” and said he “now knew how to deal with issues in his life and that he would never offend again”.
The report says:
In this case, protective factors which would reduce the risk of reoffending were considered to be Mr Bell’s ability to abstain from drug and alcohol misuse, his compliance in prison, and his constructive use of his time. The panel noted that Mr Bell is reported to be open and honest with professionals in discussing his difficulties and that he has been seen to have an element of insight into his risks and his offending behaviour.
The panel felt Bell “understands the nature and gravity of his offending”, that he is remorseful and that he has undertaken substantive behaviour intervention during his time in prison.
There was no evidence to suggest he might abscond if moved to an open prison, the report adds.
The panel recommended Bell be moved to open prison, which is subject to approval by the Secretary of State.
Bell has not yet completed his minimum term, which means he is not eligible for release until at least July 12, 2026.
Gemma (centre) with her sisters and mum.
The killing
Gemma’s sister, Krista, said Bell was fascinated by Gemma.
The pair met when Gemma was a young teenager and Bell was seven years her senior. He even sent her roses on her sixteenth birthday.
“Nowadays, it would be seen as grooming”, Krista said.
Krista described her late younger sister, who lived in the Harehills area of Leeds, as a livewire.
“She was so witty and so beautiful. She was just a character”, Krista previously told the Stray Ferret.
Bell invited Gemma to his flat in Harrogate on May 5, 2000. Justice Collier said Bell had described arguing with Gemma on that fated night.
Bell claimed Gemma asked where his children lived during the argument, which he “interpreted as a threat to his children”, before repeatedly striking her over the head with a hammer.
Fearing Gemma would regain consciousness, he then stabbed her in the back and the back of the head – but Gemma was still alive.
Bell dragged her into a bath, laid her face down, tied her hands behind her back and filled the bath with water.
He left Gemma in the bath for several days, before dismembering her body.
The Stray Ferret has contacted Gemma's family for comment. We will publish their response separately.
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