A County Durham woman who bludgeoned her elderly father to death using a poker and a walking stick because she blamed him for her mother’s suicide, has died in prison.
Ann-Marie Pyle battered 77-year-old William Pyle with a poker and repeatedly stabbed him, in revenge for her mother’s death 16 years earlier. Pyle – tormented by acute psychosis due to cannabis abuse – scrawled “Bin Laden did this” in pen above her father’s fireplace, before setting fire to his house in Stanley Street, Close House, near Bishop Auckland.
She then stripped off her clothes and ran naked from the smouldering house. In 2002, Pyle was given a life sentence at Teesside Crown Court after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
During her time behind bars, she had served time in several prisons before moving to HMP Drake Hall in 2018. She died of heart disease while still a prisoner on September 30, 2021.
An independent investigation into her death was carried out by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. A report on the findings was recently published.
The report states that Pyle was not comfortable around men and the prison healthcare team provided female-led care wherever possible. But this was more difficult to control when she required support from a community hospital, which could not guarantee the availability of female staff.
Pyle’s cholesterol levels had been above average for two years and she took regular prescribed medication to manage it. Her levels were supposed to be checked annually, but there is no evidence of a test in 2021.
On September 14, 2021, Pyle’s blood pressure was recorded as high for the first time but there is no evidence that action was taken in response to it. At around 7am on September 30 2021, an officer checked that Pyle was in her room during the morning roll check.
She thought that she was asleep, so did not try to talk to her. Later that morning, Pyle did not attend her workplace. At around 8.45am, an officer found Pyle unresponsive in her room and radioed an emergency code. The report states: "Healthcare staff arrived and assessed that rigor mortis was present so did not continue to try to resuscitate Ms Pyle, in line with national guidelines. Paramedics arrived at 9.10am and confirmed her death at 9.30am."
A post-mortem examination found that Pyle died of heart disease. The investigation into her death found that healthcare staff did not follow national guidelines when managing her cholesterol levels and blood pressure before her death. When raised readings were taken, no follow-up action was taken to address the associated risks.
It was recommended that the head of healthcare at HMP Drake Hall should ensure that healthcare staff take appropriate action in response to abnormal readings for blood pressure and cholesterol, in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. HMP Drake Hall is a closed prison in Staffordshire with an open regime, which means that women are never locked in their rooms and have free access around the site during the day. At night, they are locked in their house-blocks, but able to move around these units freely.
A spokesperson from Practice Plus Group, which provides healthcare at the prison, said: "We were deeply saddened by Ms Pyle’s death from natural causes and send our condolences to her family and friends. We are committed to providing high quality healthcare to patients within the prison population and since Ms Pyle’s death have completed the action recommended by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”
Some time after receiving her life sentence, Pyle appealed the life term. Her lawyers claimed that she no longer presented a risk to the public – but her case was dismissed by judge Lord Justice Kay, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court. Her family ran a prosperous Scarborough hotel for many years, but were struck by tragedy in 1984, when Pyle’s mother committed suicide. In subsequent years the family encountered financial problems as the hotel business foundered.
Lord Justice Kay said Pyle had formed the “deeply-held perception” that her father was “responsible for the death of her mother”. In 1996 she told one of her brothers’ partners “that her father had murdered her mother and that she too would kill him”. She was also seen several times to be “physically violent or verbally abusive” to Mr Pyle.
Her father picked her up from Scarborough, where she was found wandering the streets, driving her back to County Durham – where the bloody events unfolded. Mr Pyle – a well-respected member of the local community – received 86 wounds during his daughter’s onslaught. Pyle’s counsel, Malcolm Swift QC, unsuccessfully argued that because she was no longer using cannabis – which was the catalyst for her violence – she could no longer be considered a risk.
Join our Court & Crime WhatsApp community
Join our Court and Crime WhatsApp community for all the latest court and crime news sent direct to your phone.
In this private group, you can expect the day's top court and crime stories, including breaking news and live blogs
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, affiliate content, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
