A MAN CONVICTED OF PAEDOPHILIA DIED AT SALFORD ROYAL HOSPITAL AFTER SERVING JUST 2-YEARS OF A 14-YEAR SENTENCE

73-year-old Gerald Coppel was just 2-years into a 14-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to 19 counts of indecent assault in South Manchester upon three girls whose ages ranged between 16 and 13-years old.

At a hearing in 2020 it was revealed that Coppel had plied the girls with alcohol before exposing himself and then abusing them.

He had been serving his sentence at HMP Forest Bank where he had been placed in the health care unit upon admittance due to a pre-existing illness. He was transferred to Salford Royal in the final stages of his illness as his health deteriorated.

At a pre-inquest in Bolton Coroners Court it was said that he had refused treatment for his condition prior to his death.

Bolton Coroner Peter Sigee requested Coppel's medical records during the time of his imprisonment at Forrest Bank but said that he had not seen anything at this stage which would suggest an unnatural death.

The evidence so far suggests Coppel had 'died as a result of natural disease processes whilst in state detention', he said.

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"If there were care concerns to suggest Mr Coppel's death was contributed to by neglect, that would make it a potential unnatural death. But at this stage nothing has suggested this is an unnatural death."

A final inquest hearing is expected to take place in November.

Photo: GMP