Taxi driver who sawed off woman's legs in sickening murder bids for open prison moveMartin Bell, 55, bludgeoned Gemma Simpson, 23, to death and chopped her legs off in a harrowing attack. He could be released back into the community if he is moved to an open prison
A woman who lost her sister after she was beaten to death by a psychotic taxi driver has issued a warning after discovering he could be moved to an open prison.
Gemma Simpson, 23, was left to bleed out for three days after she was ferociously attacked with a hammer and dismembered in May 2000. She was so badly injured that her sister, Naomi Carrack, had to request that her chopped legs could be sewn back on for her funeral so that she would look "whole".
Martin Bell, now 55, hid Gemma's body at Brimham Rocks in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and told his girlfriend about what he had done 14 years later. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was given life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years. It was cut to 11 years and 205 days because of time spent in custody.
Naomi, 51, has shared her fears about the prospects of Bell being released back into the community, if he is moved to a Category D prison. If he was to be relocated, then he would be able to leave the site to go to work and to attend education. A parole hearing to discuss the "dangerous" move will take place on Tuesday.
Naomi said: "I don't think the general public would expect someone like him to wander around an open prison and go into the community. He horrificly stabbed, hammered and dismembered her body - it's not a film, it's the reality of what he did. He is capable of committing the most heinous of crimes, it was particularly horrific. She was left to bleed out for three days, had her legs chopped off at the knee and left her at Brimham Rocks for 14 years and carried on with his life. Who would want him living next to them, just going out and about every day?
Gemma was last seen on May 3, 2000, after telling her friend she was getting on a bus to go to Leeds city centre and then one to nearby Huddersfield. But she instead met Bell, who she had known for around five years, and caught a train with him to his home in Harrogate, North Yorks. After the killing, Bell avoided the attention of the police for many years, leading a law-abiding life and setting up home with a woman and her children. Naomi says that if he never confessed to his girlfriend, then she doesn't think "he would have ever handed himself" into police.
She said: "I've never had any apology, I've not had anything and I don't believe that he would have handed himself in. Everyone thinks that us finding out after 14 years brought us closure but that certainly hasn't been the case. It's been ongoing and it will never go away. She added: "Gemma was a skeleton, the only thing left of her was her long, dark hair. There was absolutely nothing there - I had to speak to the funeral directors and ask them to sew her legs back on her because I wanted her to be her whole self."
Bell had been sectioned in a mental health hospital in August 1999. But he was released six weeks before attacking Gemma, telling her that God wanted him to kill her. A psychiatric report carried out after his arrest diagnosed him with a psychotic illness, which is similar to schizophrenia. Naomi says that she "didn't think" Bell would be given the chance to go in an open prison and that the parole hearing was a "massive shock."
Naomi, of Leeds, says she recently discovered that Bell had been moved to a Category C prison. This provides prisoners with the opportunity to develop their own skills so they can resettle back into the community on release. The grandmother-of-one said: "I didn't think an inmate would go to a Category C prison if they were there for a violent crime. He hammered Gemma to death and he stabbed her repeatedly and he sawed her legs off. Nobody had ever said to me that his category had been reduced and that he was in a C prison. This is why he's got the opportunity to get moved to an open prison."
After Gemma's funeral, her ashes were turned into "amazing" fireworks which Naomi said she would have loved. Naomi, who runs her own cleaning business, has also paid an emotional tribute to her sister, describing her as "a lovely soul." She said: "With the fireworks, she was free and was on every river, every tree and on every flower and we thought it was really fitting. She was hilariously funny and very confident. She was very small and petite and pretty, she had long, dark hair. She did have her insecurities like the rest of us but she was such a loving and kind person. Gemma was great with kids, I had children and she would help out. She was just a lovely soul really."
Martin Bell, 55, was given a life sentence at Leeds Crown Court in 2014 for the murder of Gemma Simpson
Family fears taxi driver who brutally murdered young woman with hammer will soon be released
A Parole Board spokesperson said: "An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Martin Bell and is scheduled to take place in September 2024. A Parole Board panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims. Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
“Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing. The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”
source:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/taxi-driver-who-sawed-womans-33637968
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