The sister of a woman who was beaten to death by a man with a psychotic illness has branded the possibility of him moving to an open prison as ‘dangerous’.
Naomi Carrack’s sister Gemma Simpson, 23, was attacked with a hammer, stabbed and dismembered by Martin Bell, now 55, in May 2000.
Bell then hid Gemma’s body at Brimham Rocks in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and admitted to the killing in 2014 after confessing to his girlfriend.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years. It was reduced to 11 years and 205 days due to time spent in custody.
Today, a parole hearing will be held to decide if he can be moved to a Category D prison. If he is moved, then he will face minimal security and can leave the prison for work and education.
Ms Carrack, 51, of Leeds, said: ‘I don’t think the general public would expect someone like him to wonder around an open prison and go into the community.
‘He horrifically stabbed, hammered and dismembered her body – it’s not a film, it’s the reality of what he did. He is capable of committing the most heinous of crimes, it was particularly horrific.
‘She was left to bleed out for three days, had her legs chopped off at the knee and left her at Brimham Rocks for 14 years and carried on with his life.
‘I think most people would say there’s no way they would want someone like that in an open prison and in the community.
‘Who would want him living next to them, just going out and about every day? It’s marvelous for him, he’s 55 and can crack on with his life.
‘It’s absolutely shocking, he will be wondering about and can get a job and can date – he can do what he wants.’
Gemma was last seen on May 3, 2000, after telling her friend she was getting on a bus to go to Leeds city centre and then one to nearby Huddersfield.
But she instead met Bell, who she had known for around five years, and caught a train with him to his home in Harrogate.
After the killing, Bell avoided the attention of the police for many years, leading a law-abiding life and setting up home with a woman and her children.
Ms Carrack, who runs her own cleaning business, says that if he never confessed to his girlfriend, then she doesn’t think ‘he would have ever handed himself’ into police.
She said: ‘He got high and told his girlfriend what he had done – she made that threat to him and he handed himself into the police.
‘I’ve never had any apology, I’ve not had anything and I don’t believe that he would have handed himself in. It’s only down to the girlfriend that we know or I don’t think we actually would have known.
‘I think it would be better sometimes if we didn’t know. Everyone thinks that us finding out after 14 years brought us closure but that certainly hasn’t been the case. It’s been ongoing and it will never go away.
‘This was my sister, we were all affected by it and because of the short sentence he got, it’s always been hanging over us. I just feel like it’s constant – there’s no closure. Gemma was a skeleton, the only thing left of her was her long, dark hair.
‘There was absolutely nothing there – I had to speak to the funeral directors and ask them to sew her legs back on her because I wanted her to be her whole self.’
Bell, who was a taxi driver before his conviction, had been sectioned in a mental health hospital in August 1999 but he was released six weeks before attacking Gemma, telling her that God wanted him to kill her.
A psychiatric report carried out after his arrest diagnosed him with a psychotic illness, which is similar to schizophrenia.
Ms Carrack says that she ‘didn’t think’ Bell would be given the chance to go in an open prison and that the parole hearing was a ‘massive shock.’
The married mother-of-two said: ‘I didn’t expect it to soon because he actually has another two years, his release date is July 2026. I didn’t expect it at all.
‘With the way she died and the mass of what he did, I didn’t think anyone like him would have an opportunity for an open prison. It was a massive shock. He wants to get on with his life, as he’s only 55, and he’s got the opportunity to do that.’
Ms Carrack says she recently discovered that Bell had been moved to a Category C prison. This provides prisoners with the opportunity to develop their own skills so they can resettle back into the community on release.
The grandmother-of-one said: ‘I didn’t think an inmate would go to a Category C prison if they were there for a violent crime.
‘He hammered Gemma to death and he stabbed her repeatedly and he sawed her legs off. If that isn’t considered a horrific, violent crime, then what is?
‘Nobody had ever said to me that his category had been reduced and that he was in a C prison. This is why he’s got the opportunity to get moved to an open prison.’
After Gemma’s funeral, her ashes were turned into ‘amazing’ fireworks which Ms Carrack said she would have loved.
She has also paid an emotional tribute to her sister, describing her as ‘a lovely soul’.
She said: ‘With the fireworks, she was free and was on every river, every tree and on every flower and we thought it was really fitting.
‘She was hilariously funny and very confident. She was very small and petite and pretty, she had long, dark hair.
‘She did have her insecurities like the rest of us but she was such a loving and kind person. Gemma was great with kids, I had children and she would help out. She was just a lovely soul really.’
Julian Hendy, who runs charity Hundred Families which supports Ms Carrack, said: ‘Gemma was killed in such an awful and brutal way.
‘The subsequent court case and NHS investigations raised serious questions about the ability of mental health services and others to keep patients and the public safe.
‘The release of violent and dangerous offenders does concern the public. We do need to know systems are effective and working well to keep people safe.’
A Parole Board spokesperson said: ‘An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Martin Bell and is scheduled to take place in September 2024.
‘A Parole Board 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.
‘The prisoner and witnesses are then 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.’