Overview

• Gareth Dack, 41, was found dead in his cell at HMP Frankland on April 21, 2025, according to a Prison Service spokesperson.
• Dack was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years for the 2016 murder of 79-year-old Norma Bell, a widowed foster mother from Hartlepool.
• The murder involved extreme violence, postmortem desecration, and an arson attempt to destroy evidence, with Dack motivated by drug use and financial desperation.
• Norma Bell was a respected community figure who, alongside her late husband, fostered six children in addition to raising three biological sons.
• As per protocol for all custodial deaths, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman is conducting an investigation, with findings yet to be announced.