Murderer who strangled his own wife with washing line dies behind bars

Norman Heaton was jailed for life after he strangled his wife Jacqueline Heaton to death with a washing line and he was held in prison at HMP Full Sutton where he would later die

A murderer who strangled his wife to death with a washing line has died behind bars.

Norman Heaton had been serving a life sentence over the murder of mum-of-three Jacqueline Heaton in South Shields, Tyneside, in May, 2001. Heaton had tied his wife to a bed, wrapped a length of washing line around her throat and pulled it with the intention of inducing unconciousness.

He claimed this was provoke sexual excitement and he later hid her body under some stairs. Heaton said his wife, who was 32 at the time, died when the sex game went wrong.

But a jury at Newcastle Crown Court found he continued to pull the court tighter with the intention of killing her. At the time of her death, the couple’s marriage ran into difficulty and the pair had planned to split up.

The court heard how Heaton could not bear the thought of Jacqueline leaving him, so he strangled her to death. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years.

It later emerged Heaton, 66, died of bronchopneumonia in HMP Full Sutton in November last year, reports Chronicle Live. An inquest ruled he died of natural causes.

An investigation by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman has found the prison delivered a good standard of care to Heaton, which was equivalent to what he could have expected to receive in the community.

“She (the clinical reviewer) found that the care Mr Heaton received whilst on the palliative care suite at Full Sutton was kind, compassionate, timely and appropriate,” its report said. “There was excellent multidisciplinary collaboration between the prison and external health services, and evidence documented within Mr Heaton’s medical records of timely referrals, DNACPR discussions and advance care planning.

“The clinical reviewer made one recommendation not related to Mr Heaton’s death that the Head of Healthcare will wish to address. The PPO investigator investigated the non-clinical issues relating to Mr Heaton’s care.

“We did not find any non-clinical issues of concern. We make no recommendations.”