'You can stick your 20 years'

Body of killer found alongside note in prison cell

- DAMON WILKINSON

A CONVICTED killer ‘struggling to come to terms’ with his life sentence was found hanged in his Strangeways cell alongside a note saying ‘You can stick your 20 years up your a***’, a report said.

Carl Smythe, 46, was jailed for life after stabbing Damien Bendelow to death in a car park in Cornwall following a fight in a pub in January 2020.

He was transferred to Strangeways on February 10, 2021. But just 12 weeks later Smythe was found dead after taking his own life.

Prison staff ‘should have done more’ to support Smythe, the prisons ombudsman said.