A twisted killer who strangled a beloved grandmother in her own home and then called sex chat lines as her lifeless body lay on the floor has been found dead behind bars.
Depraved attack on a woman who showed nothing but kindness
Gareth Dack, 41, was serving a life sentence for the brutal 2016 murder of 79-year-old Norma Bell when he died at HMP Frankland in County Durham on April 21. The sickening crime sent shockwaves through the Hartlepool community, where Norma was a respected mother of three and a foster carer to six children.
Dack, a father-of-four, attacked the pensioner in her home, strangled her to death, and then remained in the house for hours, cutting up her clothes and calling multiple sex chat lines with her body just metres away. The court heard how he had begged her for a £10 loan just days earlier.
Killer tried to burn down the house
Not satisfied with what he had done, Dack attempted to set fire to Norma’s home in a desperate attempt to cover his tracks. Thankfully, the fire failed to take hold, and investigators quickly uncovered the true horror of what had unfolded.
Branded ‘perverted and disgusting’ in court
At his 2017 trial at Teesside Crown Court, the judge described Dack’s actions as “perverted and disgusting.” Mrs Justice Whipple told him: “You killed Norma Bell in cold blood in her own home when she was defenceless. She had done nothing to deserve your violence.” He was found guilty of murder and arson with intent to endanger life and handed a life sentence.
Norma’s family left shattered
Norma and her late husband John had built a life around caring for others. In a heartbreaking family statement after the trial, her loved ones said she had “a heart as big as a lion” and that “forgiveness will never be given” to the man who took her life. “Her murder has left an enormous gap in our lives,” they said.
Death at high-security jail
Dack was found dead at HMP Frankland—a high-security prison that also houses terrorists, murderers, and high-profile offenders. The same prison was recently the scene of a violent attack by Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi, who threw boiling oil at guards and stabbed one with a makeshift weapon. Dack’s cause of death has not been disclosed.
A Prison Service spokesperson confirmed: “Gareth Dack died on April 21, 2025, at HMP Frankland. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
His death brings to a close one of the most disturbing chapters in recent North East crime history—but offers little comfort to the family he devastated.
