Jacob Bean, 24, the Chartham Paedophile, died in prison. Authorities are baffled as to whether it could have been a vigilante poltergeist, health problems, or some other explanation.
A potential clue could be that he had complained of chest problems and respiratory difficulties a week before he was discovered unresponsive in his cell by another inmate at HMP Rochester.
Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he succumbed at the Category C prison on Fort Road.
Jacob Bean resided in Chartham, near Canterbury, prior to his incarceration for five-and-a-half years in November of the previous year for grooming a 10-year-old girl via Snapchat and WhatsApp.
Canterbury Crown Court was informed that he transmitted child abuse recordings and images of his genitalia, in addition to urging her to engage in self-directed sexual acts.
At the time of his conviction, Jacob Bean was already under scrutiny for the grooming of three other young girls on Snapchat, as well as for the creation of indecent photos.
Coroner Sarah Clarke commenced an inquiry into his death at Oakwood House, Maidstone, on Monday, disclosing that the sex offender passed away on September 7.
On August 31, she stated that Jacob Bean reported experiencing malaise, respiratory difficulties, and chest discomfort.
He was transported to Medway Maritime Hospital and subsequently returned to jail the next day.
However, a week later, Ms Clarke reported that Jacob Bean took a shower and thereafter returned to his cell, where he was later found lifeless by another inmate.
Notwithstanding the endeavours of the emergency personnel, he could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead just after 12:30 PM.
Ms Clarke states that the present cause of death remains undetermined, and the matter has been postponed until a pre-inquest review in March of the following year.
During Jacob Bean’s sentence in November of the previous year, the distraught father of the 10-year-old girl exploited by the paedophile expressed to Canterbury Crown Court his sense of parental failure.
In a moving statement, he wrote: “As a father you never want anything bad to happen to your children. You do what you can to protect them and right now I feel like I have failed.
“My 10-year-old daughter has been exposed to one of the world’s greatest evils. We have lost our daughter, the way we knew her to be.”
Jacob Bean pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a minor, producing indecent photos, attempting to induce a child to observe a sexual act, and causing or persuading a child under 13 to participate in penetrative sexual behaviour.
Upon release from incarceration, he would have been had to comply with perpetual sex offender notification mandates and a sexual harm prevention order.
In the aftermath of Jacob Bean’s demise, a representative from the prison service stated: “In accordance with protocol for all fatalities in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation.”
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