Simon Mellors, 56, had been accused of murdering his lover when he was found hanged in custody. Four years earlier he had been freed for killing another girlfriend
A man accused of murdering his lover has been found hanged in custody – four years after being released from jail for killing another girlfriend.
The body of Simon Mellors, 56, was discovered at Strangeways in Manchester while he was supposed to be on suicide watch.
He was arrested in January after allegedly stabbing Janet Scott and then mowing her down with his car, having waited for the former NHS worker outside her home.
Mellors, a supermarket worker who had been described as a ‘violent bully’, had already been jailed in 1999 for the murder of his estranged lover Pearl Black, 36.
He was released on licence in 2014 despite warnings from her family that he would kill again.
Yesterday, relatives of both Mrs Scott, 51, and Miss Black condemned the prison and probation services for how they handled the double killer.
Even Mellors’ sister, Teresa Cullen, agreed that he should not have been released from prison so soon for the earlier murder and described his death as a ‘relief’.
Mellors was arrested in January after allegedly stabbing Janet Scott (left) and then mowing her down with his car. He was jailed in 1999 for the murder of his estranged lover Pearl Black (right)
Mrs Scott’s brother-in-law said the family only discovered that Mellors had died after his relatives posted messages about it on Facebook on Sunday.
Keith Thomson, 60, from Nottingham, added: ‘We have been cheated of justice. Mellors was on suicide watch, so as well as failing us, the Prison Service have failed him miserably, too. Mellors was a predator, an animal. Janet was terrified of him.’
Mrs Scott, a mother of six, is understood to have met Mellors last spring, at around the time she became estranged from her fourth husband, Chris Scott, 51.
But by Christmas she had left Mellors and was soon reconciled with Mr Scott, who moved in with her in Arnold, Nottingham.
‘All-controlling’ Mellors was accused of stabbing her at her home on January 29, before persuading her to get into his car.
But as they neared his flat in Nottingham, she saw a community protection officer and leapt out of the vehicle as it slowed in traffic.
The body of Mellors was discovered at Strangeways in Manchester while he was supposed to be on suicide watch
As she approached the officer for help, Mellors drove his car at them, killing Mrs Scott and injuring the CPO.
Mellors was charged with murder, attempted murder and a third count of maliciously wounding Mrs Scott, who had recently taken a job at Lidl. He had previously bludgeoned Miss Black with an iron bar before strangling her at her home in Bramcote, Nottingham, as her two children – one of whom was his – slept nearby.
The next morning he took the handle off the bedroom door so they couldn’t get in, took them to school, and tried to kill himself with beer and slug pellets, but was found and arrested.
He was given a 14-year minimum sentence before being considered for release. But this was cut to 12 years on appeal. The jury at that trial heard that Mellors had been depressed, and was not normally violent.
But more than a decade before he murdered Miss Black he was described as a ‘violent bully’ after threatening to kill a lover.
The Parole Board judged him as being safe for release in 2014, despite warnings from Miss Black’s siblings. Her sister, Mary Black, said they were ‘ignored’ at a parole hearing, adding: ‘The authorities have blood on their hands.
‘Mellors should never have been allowed out of prison. But this time he has slipped out of there without facing any justice. It’s the coward’s way out.’
He appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on February 1 but entered no pleas.
The Ministry of Justice said: ‘Simon Mellors died in custody on February 25. There will be an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.’
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