'Sugar daddy' killer died with Covid in Yorkshire prison after refusing to shield

Sharon Swinhoe was found guilty of murdering Peter McMahon, 68, in 2013 and jailed for life, with a minimum term of 25 years.

The jury was told she treated the grandfather like a "suggar daddy", before she murdered him, gouged his eyes out and dumped his body in a freezer, in a friend's flat in Newcastle.

The killer tested positive for Covid at New Hall prison near Wakefield in February 2021 and died the following month, after blood clots obstructed the flow of blood to her vital organs.

A report into her death by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said she had asthma and a chronic lung disease, which put her at high risk of complications from Covid, but she refused to shield from August 2020.

On February 15, a nurse found she had low blood oxygen saturation but Swinhoe refused to go to hospital.

A second nurse requested an emergency ambulance and she again refused to be taken by paramedics.

Her health deteriorated on February 23, when a nurse discovered she had a left-sided facial droop, a right sided weakness and was not able to hold her body up.

She also continued to have low blood oxygen saturation, a high respiration rate, a high pulse rate and low blood pressure.

Swinhoe was unable to speak in full sentences and was responsive to voice only. She died in hospital later that day.

Swinhoe’s boyfriend, a retired civil servant, was last seen alive on 18 October 2012 when he took a taxi to his girlfriend’s flat.

His dead body remained in a freezer for six weeks during which time Swinhoe made multiple withdrawals of cash from his bank account.

Swinhoe was described as having no remorse by the prosecution at her trial at Newcastle Crown Court in 2013.