Overview
- Duncan Heaton, already serving life for a 2014 murder, pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday and had 13 years added to his minimum term.
- He tried to kill Andong Abong Ashu at HMP Full Sutton in May 2024 with a near 10-inch kitchen knife, then attacked David Minto at HMP Wakefield in October 2025 with three makeshift blades.
- Mr Justice Cotter said Heaton targeted both men because they were sex offenders and called him an exceptionally dangerous man.
- The judge refused his request for a whole-life term, which offers no chance of parole, and said any release will be for the Parole Board to consider when he is in his 70s.
- Heaton is held in a close supervision unit with only brief, escorted time out of his cell, as the case spotlights weak risk checks and tool access in prisons during a period of rising homicides and reduced activities.