Richard Huckle trial: Jailed paedophile 'murdered in degrading attack'

Richard Huckle died in a sustained attack at Full Sutton prison, Hull Crown Court was told

A jailed paedophile was killed in a "prolonged attack designed to humiliate and degrade him", a court has heard.

Paul Fitzgerald, 30, is accused of murdering Richard Huckle, 33, at HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, in October 2019.

Hull Crown Court was told that Huckle was stabbed, assaulted with a blunt instrument and strangled.

Fitzgerald denies murder but accepts killing Huckle by reason of diminished responsibility, the jury was told.

Opening the prosecution's case, Alistair MacDonald QC said Fitzgerald was found by another inmate in Huckle's cell "straddling" the victim, who was on the floor near a pool of blood.

Prison officers were alerted and found Huckle gagged and bound by his hands and feet, with a ligature around his neck.

"Richard Huckle suffered death as a result of ligature strangulation as part of a sustained attack, " Mr MacDonald said.

Huckle was an inmate at Full Sutton prison in East Yorkshire

Mr MacDonald told the jury that Fitzgerald told the manager of the mental health team at the prison that he "murdered Mr Huckle in cold blood and would liked to have cooked bits of his body".

"He said he enjoyed what he was doing to the body of Mr Huckle and that he would have gone on to kill two or three others.

"The reason he did not was that he was having too much fun with Mr Huckle," said Mr MacDonald.

He said Huckle was a notorious predatory paedophile.

"This was a carefully planned and executed attack, in the course of which Mr Huckle had been subjected to a prolonged attack also designed to humiliate and degrade him," he said.

The trial continues.