An evil Leeds paedophile who preyed on girls as young as 12 in abuse that spanned 30 years was found dead in his prison cell, a new report has revealed.
Peter Battensby was sentenced to 21 years behind bars after a trail at Leeds Crown Court in 2019. Battensby was found guilty of 14 offences which included eight counts of indecent assault, four counts of rape, one of voyeurism and one of sexual assault.
The earliest offences dated back to February 1987 and some of the indecent assaults were committed against girls who were aged 12 and 15 at the time. A Prisons and Probation Ombudsman report into his death confirmed that Battensby took his own life in April 2020, he was 64 years old.
Read More: Police statement as teenager arrested after woman raped in sleepy Leeds village
The report states that after his sentencing, Battensby was remanded into custody at HMP Leeds for sexual offences. It was his first time in prison.
Reception staff found no evidence that he was at risk of suicide or self-harm. Battensby had no mental health or substance misuse issues, but he engaged with healthcare services for treatment of type 2 diabetes and a skin abscess.
On October 16, 2019, Battensby was moved to HMP Full Sutton and once again reception staff had no concerns about his risk of suicide or self-harm.
Battensby engaged in regular key worker sessions and revealed he was making plans to marry his partner, due to COVID-19 restrictions and associated changes to the prison regime, the registrars were unable to complete the necessary processes. The prison Chaplin told Battensby that his wedding would have to be postponed until after June 30 at the earliest.
In March 2020, Battensby gave an officer a copy of a letter from his solicitor, stating that he had given his partner Power of Attorney over his legal matters. The officer told the investigator he did not find this concerning as Battensby told him it would help his partner to sort out the wedding formalities more quickly.
In April a prison GP, made an entry stating, ‘In the event of cardiopulmonary arrest – not for resuscitation.’ No further documentation or written account was found in Battensby’s medical record.
They agreed to the order being put in place, without discussing it with Battensby, on the basis that he was known to healthcare and was not considered to be at risk of suicide or self-harm. His handwritten note was subsequently lost and therefore was not in his medical record.
On Around 7.00pm on April 15, an officer made sure all prisoners were locked away for the night. The officer told the investigator that he said goodnight to Battensby and had no concerns about him. He said he had no reason to check on Battensby again during the night.
At around 6.10am on April 16, while carrying out the early morning welfare check, the officer saw Battensby sitting in his chair. He said good morning but got no response. He kicked the door and shouted to Battensby but still got no response.
The officer told the investigator that he could not see Battensby moving and he felt that something was not quite right but he did not know what. He said it was not good practice for him to go into a cell alone and he would only do so if he felt confident it was safe, so he went to the office to request assistance.
The officer and two prison managers went into the cell. They found Battensby sitting on the chair in front of the television. He had a ligature around his neck which was tied to the window.
Staff called a code blue on the radio and healthcare staff arrived at 6.15am. Battensby had signs of rigor mortis and the DNACPR order was displayed on his wall, so staff did not attempt CPR. Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and, at 6.36am, they confirmed that Battensby had died.
The post-mortem report concluded Battensby died from hanging, toxicology tests showed that he had no illicit drugs or alcohol in his system. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman report said: "Mr Battensby did not have a history of suicide or self-harm.
"He did not have any mental health issues and appeared to be coping well in prison, despite his long sentence. Although he was frustrated about his employment situation within the prison and the postponement of his wedding, we consider that these issues were not sufficient to lead staff to believe he was at risk of suicide or self-harm.
"We consider that there was little indication at any point during his time in custody that Mr Battensby was at risk of suicide or self-harm. However, we are concerned that Mr Battensby’s request for a DNACPR order was authorised without any discussion or assessment of potential risk issues.
"We accept that the GP account that there were many prisoners asking for DNACPR orders due to COVID-19 but, given that Mr Battensby did not have any life-limiting or chronic illnesses, we consider staff could have made more of an effort to discuss his request with him. In the event, it is likely that he requested the DNACPR as he intended to take his life. We therefore consider this was a missed opportunity to assess his risk."
The follow reccomendations were made to HMP Full Sutton as a result of the report:
The Head of Healthcare should ensure that all prisoners requesting a DNACPR order are assessed, preferably face-to-face, to establish if they are at risk of suicide, that they have mental capacity, and that no mental health issues are apparent
- The Head of Healthcare should ensure that staff provide a full and accurate record of the DNACPR assessment in the prisoner’s medical record, including details of all staff who have provided input and the rationale behind the decision;
- The Head of Healthcare should ensure that all correspondence received from the prisoner, or from anywhere else, relating to the DNACPR order is immediately scanned and retained on the prisoner’s medical record.
Read Next:
