A serial sex offender died in custody after prison staff failed to identify symptoms of sepsis, a prison ombudsman report has found. Graham Joseph Stridgeon was sentenced in 2018 for historical sexual abuse of a boy at Bryn Alyn Hall children's home near Wrexham.

The 70 year old died of a lung infection in February last year while serving an extended sentence of eight years and 10 months at HMP Wymott in Lancashire.

He was jailed after admitting one count of serious sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault against a boy who was aged under 16 at the time of the abuse in the 1970s.

Stridgeon carried out the offences while a resident at Bryn Alyn Hall as a teenager. He was apprehended as part of Operation Pallial, a wide-ranging inquiry into historical sexual abuse at North Wales care homes.

Mold Crown Court was told that Stridgeon had previously received custodial sentences for other sexual offences, amongst them a nine-year term for rape in 1991, reports Wales Online.

In his report examining the death, prisons ombudsman Adrian Usher concluded that healthcare personnel at the facility overlooked indicators of sepsis.

They should have transferred him to hospital on the evening of February 11, 2025, instead of waiting until the next morning. Four days later he died of pneumonia in hospital.

Mr Usher issued recommendations calling on HMP Wymott to enhance its training procedures and record-keeping standards.

He continued: "There are no records of any meaningful interaction between Mr Stridgeon and prison staff, including keyworkers, in the last four months of his life.

"When asked by the investigator, the prison was unable to identify a member of staff who could tell us how Mr Stridgeon had seemed during this time.

"We bring the apparent lack of interaction with Mr Stridgeon to the governor's attention as they work towards reinstating a full keyworker regime."

Stridgeon,

who was 18 or 19 years old when the offences occurred, initially denied the abuse before entering guilty pleas to the three charges ahead of his scheduled trial.

He received an initial sentence of three and a half years, but the then-Solicitor General, Robert Buckland, referred the case to the Court of Appeal on grounds of undue leniency. The sentence was subsequently increased to five years and 10 months' imprisonment with an extended three-year licence period. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

Stridgeon had been released in August 2024 before being recalled to custody the following month for reasons not disclosed in the ombudsman report.

Stridgeon, from Park Avenue in Fleetwood, Lancashire, "got away with committing these offences for many years", Judge Rhys Rowlands stated during the sentencing hearing.

He added that, despite Stridgeon having learning difficulties, he would have been aware of the harm he was inflicting upon his victim.

Judge Rowlands went on to say: "You were someone who wanted to take advantage of others sexually. You would have known it was very, very wrong to treat people in that way." Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone