Newcastle pervert who filmed himself raping unconscious woman dies in HMP Northumberland

A pervert from Newcastle who filmed himself raping an unconscious woman has died behind bars.

In July 2019, Barry Wemyss was sentenced to 12 years in prison for rape after forcing himself on a defenseless mother while she was “completely unconscious” due to drug use. The victim had no idea what he had done until she saw the “horrific and sickening” footage.

When police presented the footage, Wemyss admitted to making it but claimed it was consensual and that he stopped recording the sex when he realised she was “stoned”. However, the traumatised victim told police she had no memory of the events shown in the footage.

After his trial, Wemyss served his sentence at HMP Northumberland, a Category C men’s prison in Morpeth, but on July 17 last year he died of heart failure at the age of 46.

Following his death, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) conducted an independent investigation. In a recently published report, the PPO confirmed that it had found no non-clinical problems.

The report states: “The clinical assessor concluded that the clinical care Mr Wemyss received was appropriate and consistent with the care he would have expected in the community. We make the following recommendation in relation to the clinical care Mr Wemyss received: The health manager should ensure that all patients presenting with chest pain have an electrocardiogram (ECG) in accordance with NICE guidelines NG95 ‘New onset chest pain of suspected cardiac origin; assessment and diagnosis’.”

The inquest, which took place on 16 July this year, concluded that Wemyss died of natural causes. NHS England also commissioned an independent clinical assessor to review his clinical care at HMP Northumberland. The clinical assessor concluded that the care he received was appropriate and equivalent to the care he would have expected in the community.