Mystery surrounds the death of a 24-year-old paedophile said to have subjected his young victim to “one of the world’s greatest evils”. Jacob Bean was found unresponsive in his cell by another inmate at HMP Rochester. Efforts were made to revive him, but he died at the Category C prison in Fort Road.
Bean had lived in Chartham, near Canterbury, before he was jailed for five-and-a-half years in November last year for grooming a 10-year-old girl on Snapchat and WhatsApp. Canterbury Crown Court heard he sent her child abuse videos and photos of penis, as well as encouraging her to perform sex acts on herself.
At the time of his conviction, Bean was already under investigation for the grooming of three other underage girls on Snapchat, as well as making indecent images. Coroner Sarah Clarke opened an inquest into his death revealing the sex offender died on September 7.
She says on August 31, Bean reported not feeling well, that he was struggling to breathe and had chest pains. He was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital and returned to custody the following day. But a week later, Ms Clarke says Bean went for a shower and returned to his cell – before he was discovered unresponsive by another prisoner.