A convicted paedophile from Cornwall who raped a schoolgirl and two other children has died in prison. Patrick Mugford, 69, was 18 months into a seven-year conviction when he died at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire.
Mugford was jailed in May 2022, as Kent Online reports, after assaulting and raping a Canterbury schoolgirl two decades ago. At the time of the attack, the teenager reported the incident immediately but was not believed and had to endure two decades of pain and hurt before a jury convicted her attacker.
The pervert who had been staying in the Illogan area at the time of his arrest was convicted of the rape at Maidstone Crown Court in May 2022.
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The court heard then how his victim was left so traumatised by the attack that she ended up drinking three litres of cider a day "to black everything out" while partially living on the streets. Originally not believed by her mother, the teenage girl reported her attacker to the police in 2019 after seeing another court report about her attacker's crimes.
Mugford was convicted in 2012 for raping two children but it was only in 2019 that the teenager he had attacked and raped 20 years prior reported the attack after reading a report of his convictions. He was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for the rape and indecent assault.
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An inquest into his death in prison revealed that the 69-year-old died in hospital from aspiration pneumonia - an infection caused by inhaling food or liquid into the lungs. This was caused by bilateral multiple cerebral infarctions, or strokes on both sides of the brain, which occur because of disrupted blood flow, which, in Mugford's case, originated due to his Type 2 diabetes.
Adrian Usher, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), said: "The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Mr Mugford received at HMP Littlehey was of a good standard and was at least equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community. She found evidence in his medical records that healthcare staff responded appropriately and proactively to Mr Mugford’s healthcare needs. The PPO investigator investigated the non-clinical issues relating to Mr Mugford’s care."
He added: "We did not find any non-clinical issues of concern. We make no recommendations." A coroner concluded Mugford died of natural causes.
