Prisoner who plotted to kill Roy Whiting will go before Parole Board

EXCLUSIVE: Prisoner who plotted to slay notorious child killer Roy Whiting and abetted his cellmate’s suicide will go before Parole Board for the sixth time in a bid to be released

• Neil Preece-Smith will go before the Parole Board in the early summer
• He has a history of aggressive behaviour and serious offending behind bars 

A notorious prisoner who aided and abetted his cellmate’s suicide and plotted to slay child killer Roy Whiting is making another bid to win his freedom.

Serial offender Neil Preece-Smith, who a judge once branded ‘extremely dangerous,’ will go before the Parole Board for a sixth time in the early summer in a fresh attempt to be released on licence.

Preece-Smith had plotted to kill Whiting, who is serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in July 2000, while locked up with him at Category A Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire. 

His upcoming parole hearing before a three-person panel will be on the radar of Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, who has made a point of ignoring controversial parole recommendations.

The deputy prime minister has blocked dozens of serious criminals from leaving secure jails as part of a tougher approach to parole instigated last year.

Serial offender Neil Preece-Smith (pictured), who a judge once branded ‘extremely dangerous’, will go before the Parole Board for a sixth time in the early summer in a fresh bid to be released on licence

Preece-Smith  plotted to kill child killer Roy Whiting (pictured). Whiting is serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in July 2000

Preece-Smith will face tough questions from the parole panel as he has a history of aggressive behaviour and serious offending behind bars. 

Originally convicted of arson, he hit the headlines in 2016 when he admitted plotting to kill Whiting, one of Britain’s most notorious child killers, by using sharpened toothbrushes.

Preece-Smith, now 37, was locked up with evil Whiting at Category A Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire when he plotted the attack.

Whiting is serving a life sentence in the prison for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in July 2000.

Preece-Smith confessed at Leeds Crown Court after being found in possession of the weapons on four occasions.

He admitted that he had made them and intended to use them on sex offenders in the prison.

He pleaded guilty to four offences of possession of a prohibited article and was given a two year sentence.

He told Recorder Jeremy Barnett when asked why he had committed the offences: ‘There is a person in Wakefield called Roy Whiting and I have threatened him before.’

He added: ‘If I come into contact with these people, I will carry out my threat but at the moment I am on F-Wing and I have stability.

‘Should I come into contact with a sex offender, I will carry out my threat.’

In 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison for torching an ex-offenders’ hostel as he wanted to kill people staying there.

The sentencing judge described him as ‘extremely dangerous’.

Later the same year, he was handed a 10-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting his cellmate’s suicide at Armley Prison in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Then aged 26, he stunned an inquest into the death of remand prisoner Michael Clegg, 48, by claiming that he had murdered his cellmate on May 9, 2006.

He told the court via video link from HMP Leeds that he killed Mr Clegg after being pressured by other prisoners to ‘deal’ with his cellmate, whom they wrongly believed to be a paedophile.

He described how he tied Mr Clegg’s ankles and hands using the victim’s shoelaces while threatening him with a makeshift knife.

‘I ripped up a bed sheet, made a noose, made little cuts with the blade [on his lower back and buttocks], not to kill him, but to make him scared enough to put his neck in the noose.

‘Then I gave him three choices: to hang himself, or I would hang him, or I would cut him up.’

He added: ‘I helped him on to the pipes… he tried to use his hands to pull himself up but I pulled down on his legs until he was dead. I waited half an hour then pressed the cell bell. ‘

Preece-Smith told the jury that he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting suicide because he ‘didn’t want to get done for a serious charge’.

West Yorkshire Police Superintendent Colin Prime, who led the investigation, told the court he had recommended charging Preece-Smith with murder but the CPS believed there was not enough evidence.

Mr Clegg had been in prison for 12 days and was due to be released to a bail hostel the day after his death.

In 2017, Preece-Smith made multiple phone calls claiming that he had left bombs outside railway stations and in the car park at Wakefield prison.

Preece-Smith, now 37, was locked up with Whiting at Category A Wakefield prison (pictured) in West Yorkshire when he plotted the attack

At Leeds Crown Court, Richard Walters, prosecuting, said Preece-Smith was on the segregation unit, where inmates were allowed to ring The Samaritans if they were in a low mood.

The court heard the inmate used a phone line which was encrypted so conversations could not be recorded.

Judge Sally Cahill, QC, imposed a five-year prison sentence.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: ‘We can confirm the parole review of Neil Preece-Smith has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.

‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.’

A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.

Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.

It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. 

‘Protecting the public is our number one priority.’

This comes as Mr Raab in January, stepped in to block Reginald Wilson, now 58, from being transferred to a lower risk prison despite the Parole Board recommending the move.

Aged 26, Wilson carried out one of the most notorious murders in UK criminal history when he randomly targeted doctor David Birkett at his home in Middlesbrough in 1990.

The esteemed dermatologist was bludgeoned to death.

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