A convicted child rapist, who was serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence, has died at a U.K. prison, authorities said.
Rebecca Holloway, 31, was found dead at HM Prison Low Newton in Durham, England, the Prison Service confirmed to local outlet Grimsby Live.
Her death date was listed as Feb. 13 on the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s site, with the investigation status listed as “in progress.”
HM Prison Low Newton did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, March 9.
A statement from the Prison Service to Grimsby Live reads, “HMP/YOI Low Newton prisoner Rebecca Holloway died on Feb 13. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
Police in Durham told The Sun that investigators do not believe there was any foul play. “Police were alerted to the discovery of a 31-year-old woman found hanged at HMP Low Newton. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner,” they said.
Holloway and accomplice Oliver Wilson, whom she met on a dating app, went to trial in March 2020, where they admitted to two offenses of rape of a child and conspiracy to sexually assault a child under 13, according to a report from Grimsby Liveat the time. Holloway also admitted to making and distributing indecent images of children, while Wilson also admitted rape, assault by penetration and making indecent photographs of children.
Wilson was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the outlet reported.
A prison corridor (stock image).
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According to The Daily Mail, prosecutors said during the trial that the couple was caught after investigators became aware of Wilson in August 2017, when Lincolnshire Police found him attempting to purchase used children’s underwear on eBay.
Wilson’s home was raided soon after, the outlet reported, and police found evidence, including children’s clothing and a photo of a child on his phone. Investigators also discovered that he and Holloway had been exchanging messages about abusing children.
Authorities then searched Holloway’s home, located 60 miles away from Wilson’s, and found pictures of children, The Daily Mail reported. Investigators later found that they had sexually abused a young girl, and a boy had been left with a sexual injury, Grimsby Live reported.
A lawyer for Holloway argued during her trial that she had also been abused, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and had also lost a baby to sudden infant death syndrome, according to The Daily Mail.
During her sentencing, a judge told Holloway that she had been “encouraging Wilson when he was sexually abusing the girl and you played your part in the vile sexual acts to which she was subjected.”
“You derived perverted sexual pleasure from what he was doing. You were a willing, even enthusiastic, participant in what happened,” the judge told Holloway, per The Daily Mail. “The full extent of the long-term impact of what you two did to the girl may never be known. But it is clear that it has had a profound effect upon her.”
“These are matters that she will have to live with,” Holloway’s lawyer said at the time of the trial, per Grimsby Live. “While in custody, the enormity of what she has done has dawned on her. Her character is now stained in the worst possible way forever.”
Police are still investigating Holloway’s death, per The Sun, and her next of kin have been informed.
