A RAPIST who sexually abused three young girls for a number of years died one year into his 30-year sentence at HMP Wakefield, it has been confirmed.

John Kelk, 69, formerly of Wingfield Road in Athersley South, was jailed for 30 years in 2022 following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

He was found guilty by a jury of a total of 22 charges including rape and sexual assault.

Kelk abused three victims over a number of years in sickening attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.

His charges included rape and sexual assault but the jury was also told of his physical abuse, which ranged from beating his victims to making one of them drink weed killer.

The allegations against Kelk originally came to light back in 2018 when one of the three victims reported what happened to her when she was just a child to her local police force.

Following an investigation by South Yorkshire Police, two further victims came to the force’s attention.

The court were told that it wasn’t just sexual abuse that the now 68-year-old subjected the three young girls to - he also physically assaulted them.

On one occasion, he dragged one of the girls by her hair, before beating her and making her drink weed killer.

The court were also told how he ‘violated’ one of the victims with tools, including a screwdriver.

Kelk died in hospital of liver failure, caused by liver cirrhosis, on December 30, 2023.

A subsequent inquest confirmed that he died of natural causes.

An independent investigation into his death was then carried out by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman revealed that the healthcare team at HMP Wakefield missed a hospital letter stating he needed to be treated further - and officers decided he should not be allowed to attend A and E despite doctors asking him to do so.

A report states: “The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Mr Kelk received at HMP Wakefield was of a good standard and equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community.

“They concluded that Mr Kelk’s diabetes was appropriately managed, and referrals were made appropriately.

“Additionally, they found that Mr Kelk’s end-of-life care was thorough, timely and caring.

“However, the healthcare team missed that the hospital discharge letter on May 7 2023 stated that Mr Kelk needed further investigations.

“This was not identified until July 12 when a consultant physician at HMP Wakefield reviewed Mr Kelk’s discharge letter.

“The clinical reviewer made a recommendation to address this.

“We found that the officer in charge on August 28 2023 decided that Mr Kelk should not attend A and E, contrary to the advice of an out-of-hours doctor.

“While it is not possible to know whether this would have changed the outcome for Mr Kelk, we are concerned that clinical advice was not followed.”

Kelk was the 24th prisoner to die at HMP Wakefield since December 30, 2020.

Of the previous deaths, 19 were from natural causes and four were self-inflicted.

An application for compassionate leave had been submitted for Kelk due to the deterioration of his health, but there was a delay in this being pushed through.

The Ombudsman has issued a number of incident points staff at the prison need to work on.

The report added: “There was a three-week delay in starting Mr Kelk’s application for early release on compassionate grounds after he received a prognosis of a few months on September 28.

“It is important that early release applications are completed promptly when individuals have only a short prognosis.

“However, we recognise that once it was started on October 17, 2023, it was appropriately managed using Wakefield’s tracking system.

“Unfortunately, Mr Kelk died before it was fully progressed.

“The head of healthcare should ensure that healthcare staff read discharge letters fully and complete any required actions promptly.

”The governor should ensure that when a clinician advises that a prisoner should be sent to hospital.

“The policy of referring such decisions to the duty governor is rigourously enforced and where the advice is not followed, the reasons should be clearly documented by the duty governor.”