A PAEDOPHILE who was told he would die in prison has indeed died in prison – months into his nine-year sentence.

Ian Wilkinson died from lung cancer at St Joseph’s Hospice in Liverpool on April 5, 2023, while a prisoner at HMP Liverpool.

The 64-year-old repeatedly abused a teenage boy in the Newton-le-Willows area during the 1980s, before being convicted decades later.

An independent report into his death has now been published by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, which aims to ‘make a significant contribution to safer, fairer custody and community supervision’.

Wilkinson was diagnosed with bilateral lung cancer in the community in July 2021 and started chemotherapy in October.

By June 2022, the chemotherapy was found to have been unsuccessful so was stopped. He was not a suitable candidate for radiotherapy because of his lung disease, so he was transferred to palliative care.

On January 12, 2023, Wilkinson, of Ormskirk Road in Upholland, was found guilty of nine counts of indecent assault by a jury following a trial and remanded to HMP Liverpool.

This was his first time in prison, and on January 31, he was sentenced to nine years in jail for performing sexual acts on his victim and forcing him to carry out sex acts himself.

In an impact statement read during the sentencing hearing, the victim said: “My whole world unravelled.”

Sentencing, judge Gary Woodhall said: “You had the audacity to suggest that he was somehow to blame. "He was not to blame.

“You have shown no genuine remorse for what happened. This was offending carried out purely for your own sexual gratification. The hurt and distress it has caused is palpable.

“You have been able to live almost your entire life unaffected by your offending, unlike your victim. It is likely that you will die in prison.”

By February 5, he was moved to the prison healthcare unit where he could be monitored by clinical staff, but on March 23, a nurse noted his condition had deteriorated.

The following day, an assessment showed rapid deterioration in his condition, and that he was now in the terminal phase.

On March 27, Wilkinson was transferred to St Joseph’s Hospice for end-of-life care, and he died at 10.35am on April 5.

A coroner accepted the cause of death provided by a hospital doctor as advanced lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis and no post-mortem examination was carried out.

An inquest, held on April 19, concluded that Wilkinson died from natural causes.

An ombudsman spokesman said: “The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Wilkinson received at Liverpool was equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community.

“The clinical reviewer made no recommendations.

“We found that the non-clinical care provided to Wilkinson was of a good standard, so we have not made any recommendations.”