Killer's macabre escape attempt

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Triple killer William Bell was found hanging in his prison cell in what may have been a bizarre escape attempt.

The notorious RSA murderer had tied a cut-up sheet around his neck at the maximum security Auckland East prison at Paremoremo.

But sources familiar with the May 30 incident do not believe he was trying to kill himself.

One source told the Weekend Herald that he might have been planning to bolt from hospital.

In any event, the plot failed. Although he was taken to North Shore Hospital for treatment, he was back in the prison by early the next day.

Bell is serving a 33-year non-parole prison term for the murder of Mary Hobson, Wayne Johnson and William Absolum at the Panmure RSA in December 2001.

The Department of Corrections refused to name the inmate involved in the incident, but the regional prisons manager (northern), Brendon Moynihan, confirmed that a prisoner had to be cut down and saved on May 30.

The inmate was discovered by a nurse around 6.40 pm when she was distributing the inmates' medication, said Mr Moynihan. As she entered the inmate's cell, she saw him and called for help.

He was breathing and had a pulse but was unconscious. Police were notified.

The officer who was second in charge of the case, Detective Senior Sergeant David Pearson, said police always took a close interest in what happened to Bell. "We have a huge responsibility to the victims."

It is understood Bell staged a suicide attempt as part of an escape plot when he was serving an earlier prison sentence.

Tai Hobson, husband of Mary, did not want to comment yesterday but a woman at the Panmure RSA, who did not want to give her name, said it was "a shame he missed".

"We just feel we've had enough in the clubrooms at the moment and we're all trying to move on and William Bell keeps raising his ugly head every time. It's just a shame that he missed.

"I would say that the majority of people here would feel the same way as I do. It's just a shame that he didn't succeed when he was in last time.

"It would have saved a lot of upset and lives."