Pensioner serving sentence for rape found dead in cell

The Home Office confirmed 67-year-old Barry Taylor was found by staff at Holme House Prison, in Stockton, on Saturday morning.

Last month, widower Taylor was jailed for raping a 30-year-old woman, despite claiming he had rewarded the victim with cash for sexual services.

At the end of the trial, Taylor's girlfriend rounded on a police officer and warned: "He'll die in prison."

The pensioner landlord was found guilty of assaulting the woman three times in a morning.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Taylor forced the victim to perform sex acts on him after striking her with a studded belt.

The jury was told that he then forced her to perform a sex act on the kitchen floor, before ordering her upstairs into a bedroom, where the attack continued.

During the hearing he claimed the woman was one of several who provided sexual services for him and he rewarded them with money.

Taylor, of Leaholm Road, Hartlepool, was found guilty of three charges of oral rape and actual bodily harm.

He was cleared of sexual assault by urinating upon his victim.

Sentencing Taylor, Judge Leslie Spittle said: "This was a course of rape perpetrated upon her despite her protestations. You have no credit attached to you. You disputed this throughout."

The Home Office spokesman confirmed the prisoner's death was being treated as self-inflicted, although the exact details of how he was found have not been released.

He said staff found Taylor at 5am and immediately attempted to resuscitate him, but without success.

"Every death in custody is a tragedy and our sympathies are with the family and friends of Mr Taylor at this time," he said.

"As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an inquiry."

He said Taylor's next of kin had been informed.

Figures released last year by the Howard League For Penal Reform revealed that 13 prisoners had taken their lives at Holme House in the ten years up to March 2004.