Warning: This article contains sensitive topics some readers may find very distressing.

A Harrogate killer who has served just over a decade behind bars could be moved to an open prison. 

Martin Bell, who killed a young woman he was obsessed with at a flat in Harrogate, was sentenced for manslaughter with diminished responsibility in 2014.

In December of that year, Bell was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 12 years – but the prospect of his freedom is now more tangible than ever. 

Bell’s parole hearing will be held on June 12, when a panel will decide if he is eligible to be transferred to a category D prison.

Category D prisons are the lowest security prisons and allow inmates to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence.

They can go to work, places of education or leave the premises for resettlement purposes.

The government states only those prisoners who have been risk-assessed and deemed suitable for open conditions are eligible, but the victim’s sister previously told the Stray Ferret her family has never been shown any evidence of Bell’s reform. 

Gemma’s story

Gemma Simpson was just 23-years-old when she was brutally killed by Bell.

Gemma’s sister, Krista, told the Stray Ferret she was a livewire and very family-orientated. 

“She was so witty and so beautiful. She was just a character", Krista said. 

Krista added Bell was fascinated by Gemma, despite being around seven years her senior, and even sent her roses on her 16th birthday. 

“Nowadays, it would be seen as grooming”, she told us last year.

Bell invited Gemma, who lived in Harehills in Leeds at the time, to his Harrogate flat on May 5, 2000 - some six weeks after he had been released from psychiatric care. 

Justice Peter Collier, who sentenced Bell, said the killer described having an argument with Gemma on that fated night.

In his “paranoid state”, Bell struck Gemma over the head repeatedly with a hammer.

Fearing she would regain consciousness, the court heard Bell then stabbed Gemma in the back and the back of the head to ensure there would be no chance of survival.

Bell left Gemma’s body in a bath for several days, during which he decided how to dispose of her body. He eventually dismembered her and buried her body at Brimham Rocks in Nidderdale.

Bell returned to the burial spot several times in the years after her death, it was later found at court. 

Gemma was considered missing for the next 14 years. 

Krista claims Bell was the last person to speak to Gemma on the phone before her death, but the family was not made aware of this until he eventually confessed to the killing.

More than a decade later, Bell walked into Scarborough Police Station and admitted what he had done before taking officers to the burial site. 

Justice Collier found Bell's mother’s death prompted the confession, although Krista believes he told a girlfriend at the time who urged him to come clean.

When Krista spoke to the Stray Ferret, she was contained and coherent. However, when she told us about breaking the news to her father, she became understandably upset.

She said at the time:

The sentence

Bell was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in December 2014. 

Justice Collier said psychiatrists agreed Bell fit the requirements of a manslaughter with diminished responsibility charge at the time.

The judge ruled Bell was suffering with an underlying mental health condition and personality disorder, and handed him the life sentence.

Bell spent 160 days on remand before the sentencing, which were deducted from his final sentence, meaning the overall minimum term to spend was 11 years and 205 days.

This was just over ten years ago.

Bell’s parole hearing was supposed to be held last September but it was postponed suddenly.

The Stray Ferret has followed the case closely since and asked the Parole Board for updates multiple times.

Today (March 18), a spokesperson confirmed Bell’s hearing will be held on June 12. 

Parole Board’s response

When we spoke to Krista last September, we also asked the Parole Board if Bell’s hearing came as part of Labour’s early release prison scheme, which was launched that month.

A spokesperson said the two were not connected, and prisoners eligible for early release under the scheme were released automatically and without a Parole Board review.

The spokesperson added at the time HM Prison and Probation service conducts a “pre-tariff sift of indeterminate sentenced prisoners a few years before their tariff expires and some of them are referred to the Parole Board for a parole review”.

Krista previously told the Stray Ferret she would not only fear for her family’s safety if Bell is moved to open prison, but also the safety of the general public.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing declared violence against women and girls to be a national emergency last year, and Krista believes Bell would only add to the threat.

“If he was moved to an open prison anywhere in the north, really, I could walk down the street and see my sister’s killer”, Krista told the Stray Ferret.

The Stray Ferret asked the Parole Board at the time if it acknowledged the potential threat Bell could pose to Gemma’s family and the wider community should he be integrated into society prematurely.

A spokesperson said:

A Parole Board spokesperson today told the Stray Ferret "nothing has changed" in terms of Bell's case. 

"He’s only eligible for a recommendation for open conditions, which would then be decided by the Secretary of State", they added.

The Stray Ferret has approached Krista for comment on the hearing.

You can read the full interview with Krista here.