As police continue to investigate the death of murderer John Mansfield, details of his own crazed violence have resurfaced. The body of Mansfield, 63, was found on Sunday by an inmate at high-security prison HMP Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire.
A serving prisoner, 44, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Mansfield was serving two life sentences behind bars. The first was for murdering his neighbour Ann Alfanso at her Manchester home in 2007.
Mansfield, who had more than 75 convictions to his name, murdered his defenceless neighbour Ann after taking a dangerous mix of heroin, cocaine, methadone, and morphine. High on the potent cocktail of drugs, Mansfield brutally stabbed the 63-year-old more than 20 times in the head and neck alone.
In total, she was covered in 97 wounds, bruises and cuts on her body as a result of the heinous attack. The defenceless grandmother, who had mobility issues and various health problems, relied on a carer for support. Ms Alfanso was found dead at her home in Whalley Grange, Manchester, in a harrowing trail of blood by her carer.
Her killer had dragged her around in the barbaric attack, as he hunted for cash before escaping with just a pocketful of change. Mansfield was sentenced in 2007 at Manchester Crown Court to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years for her murder.
He was handed a second life term in 2014 after stabbing another prisoner with a broken plate at HMP Full Sutton near York. After that offence, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, said of the violent offender: “I doubt very much that it will ever be safe to release you. I have no doubt you are a very dangerous criminal who regards violence as the norm, and who has no hesitation to kill when necessary.”
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said officers were called at about 4.10pm on Sunday “following the discovery of the body of a man in his 60s at HMP Whitemoor near March”. “A 44-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. An investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson continued.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Police are investigating the death of prisoner John Mansfield at HMP Whitemoor on Sunday, April 13. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.” The Prison and Probation Ombudsman will also investigate, as is procedure.
Mansfield’s violent attack on Ms Alfanso is not an isolated case as drug intoxication has been a key component of several savage murders. Last year, defenceless pensioner Bernard Fowler, 87, was battered to death with his own walking stick and then trampled on by Sekai Miles, 23, from Brent Cross, who suffered from schizophrenia and had a history of drug dependency.
Drugs also played a central part in the horrifying Joshua Jacques murder case. Jacques, 29, killed his girlfriend Samantha Drummonds, 27, and three other members of her family with a knife at her home in Bermondsey, south London, in April 2002.
He was found guilty at the Old Bailey later that year and was convicted of murder. It emerged during the trial that Jacques took 3k of skunk cannabis a day, and that the killings happened while he was on probation for drug-related offences.
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