Bishop Auckland man who abused children died in prison

Melvin McFadden, from Bishop Auckland, received a nine-year prison sentence in 2004 for abusing four children – one who was aged only seven – and was released on licence in September 2010.

But within days of his license expiring, McFadden began grooming a child again, after befriending the girl's mother. 

He was locked up indefinitely for the offence, and died in hospital in March 2023, whilst still a prisoner at HMP Northumberland, where he had been for nearly 10 years. 

He was 73 years old, and the Prison and Probation Ombudsman detailed the cause of his death as kidney and heart failure caused by kidney cancer in a newly published report. 

In 2021, a stool sample from McFadden, tested under the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, showed abnormalities.

He was referred for additional assessments, but he declined further tests and investigations, including a colonoscopy.

The GP and nurses at the prison "repeatedly spoke to him about the risks of refusing and the possibility that he might have cancer", but he persistently declined. 

Less than a year later, in January 2022, ultrasound scans revealed masses in both kidneys and Mr McFadden agreed to be referred urgently to a specialist, under the NHS pathway for suspected cancer. 

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Within three months, a consultant urologist confirmed that Mr McFadden had terminal kidney cancer, and he was told his condition was incurable and his treatment would be palliative only. 

In early 2023, a scan confirmed the cancer had spread to his colon. He died in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, on March 12. 

McFadden was the eighteenth prisoner at Northumberland to die since March 2020. Of the previous deaths, ten were from natural causes, six were self-inflicted and one was due to substance misuse. Since he died, there have been three further deaths from natural causes.