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'Pure evil' man who vowed to kill ex dies in prison less than two years after being jailed
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'Pure evil' man who vowed to kill ex dies in prison less than two years after being jailed Lee Mercer was jailed in December 2024 for to intentional strangulation, ABH, making threats to kill and criminal damage - less than two years into his sentence he has died behind bars A man who strangled his ex-girlfriend and vowed to kill her and her children has died in prison less than two years into his sentence. Lee Mercer, from Skelmersdale, was jailed for four years and seven months after...
'Pure evil' man who vowed to kill ex dies in prison less than two years after being jailed
Lee Mercer was jailed in December 2024 for to intentional strangulation, ABH, making threats to kill and criminal damage - less than two years into his sentence he has died behind bars
A man who strangled his ex-girlfriend and vowed to kill her and her children has died in prison less than two years into his sentence.
Lee Mercer, from Skelmersdale, was jailed for four years and seven months after pleading guilty, in December 2024, to intentional strangulation, ABH, making threats to kill and criminal damage.
Preston Crown Court heard the then 44-year-old attacked his victim during two separate incidents four days apart. During the chilling incidents, Mercer strangled the woman and threatened to kill her. He also told her he would kill her children and asked her to choose which child would be first.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "I was literally living in hell. He knew this. He told me I had met the devil referring to himself. I now know he is pure evil."
She said she suffers PTSD and can not watch TV as it triggers her symptoms. She feels guilty that she tried to protect her children but Mercer threatened to kill them. She no longer attends exercise classes or walks daily like she used to.
"I find myself waking up in the night screaming and crying," she said. "I feel like Lee is in bed next to me, calling me a slag and telling me it's going to be me or the kids first.
"I find myself isolating myself inside the house. My friends have noticed how much I have changed. They say I am no longer my happy self and I am closed off.
"It is traumatising. I don't deserve the behaviour he has inflicted on me. Even though he can't get to me I am still afraid. He is the devil - he has not only destroyed my life, he has destroyed me."
After Mercer was jailed he was transferred to HMP Wymott near Leyland where he died, aged 45, on July 14 this year, Lancs Live reports.
A spokesperson for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said: “An independent investigation into Lee Mercer’s death at HMP Wymott on 14 July 2026 has begun. We will make our final report public after the inquest concludes."