A convicted murder who shot his friend following an argument in a pub has died in a Lancashire prison.
John Hutchinson was jailed for life in February 2007, almost a year to the date he murdered his friend, dad-of-six Sean Webster. The 41-year-old died after being shot by Hutchinson, using a rifle he had bought from the back of a Land Rover, following an argument at a pub in Ripon in Yorkshire.
In 2019 while serving his life sentence Hutchinson was transferred to HMP Lancaster Farms and in May 2022 he told a nurse he had found a painful lump in his neck. Tests revealed he had a form of skin cancer and he was moved to Preston Prison’s healthcare unit.
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In October last year, after being told that surgery wasn’t an option, Hutchinson started radiotherapy. However, just a week into his treatment, he informed nurses that he didn’t want to continue with radiotherapy, and said he didn’t want to be resuscitated if his heart stopped.
The following month, with the support of the governor of HMP Preston, Hutchinson submitted an application for early release on compassionate grounds, having served 15 years of his sentence. The Public Protection Casework Section refused the application as they were not satisfied that Hutchinson no longer posed a risk to the public.
Just three weeks later Hutchinson rapidly deteriorated and he died, while an inmate at Preston, on December 22 at 2.20pm. The cause of death was recorded as as hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
When prisoners die in custody the Prisons & Probations Ombudsman carries out an investigation to determine if the healthcare they received was the equivalent of that which they would have received in the community. A report into Hutchinson’s death, published by the ombudsman last week, revealed that when a family liaison officer wrote to Mr Hutchinson’s next of kin, his daughter, she did not respond.
The report states: “On July 4, 2022, Mr Hutchinson was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer). On August 15, Mr Hutchinson attended an appointment at the hospital.
“The clinical team told him that surgery was not an option to treat his cancer and that he would need to have radiotherapy. On September 8, Mr Hutchinson had a feeding tube inserted into his stomach (to support with feeding, drinking, and medication).
“On September 29, Mr Hutchinson was moved from Lancaster Farms to the healthcare unit at HMP Preston, where he could receive 24-hour care.19. On October 3, Mr Hutchinson started radiotherapy treatment.
“On October 11, while in hospital, Mr Hutchinson told the prison healthcare team that he no longer wanted to have radiotherapy as it was making him feel worse and he decided to stop his active treatment. On October 13, Mr Hutchinson said he did not want anyone to resuscitate him if his heart or breathing stopped and signed an order to that effect.
“On November 22, the prison submitted an application for Mr Hutchinson’s early release on compassionate grounds to the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) of HMPPS, which the Governor supported. However, PPCS refused the application on December 14 as they were not satisfied that Mr Hutchinson no longer posed a risk to the public.
“On December 19, Mr Hutchinson started to deteriorate, and his end-of-life care plan was started. On December 22 at 2.20pm, Mr Hutchinson died.”
After Hutchinson was found guilty, at Leeds Crown Court, Detective Chief Inspector Noel Roberts, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “This tragic death could so easily have been avoided. The rifle used to kill Mr Webster was one that had been stolen five years previously. Hutchison bought it from a man ‘from the back of a Land-Rover’.
“He had no certificate to keep or use the rifle, which meant no check had been made on how he kept the gun, what he used it for, or if he was a fit person to have this deadly weapon.”
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