A NURSE has told of her horror at coming face-to-face with the Suffolk Strangler in HMP Long Lartin.
Kerry Collins worked at the high-security slammer for several years, and has now revealed all in a new Channel 5 documentary that explores the facility.
The general nurse spoke on Inside HMP Long Lartin: Evil Behind Bars, which aired tonight at 9pm, about her encounter with one of Britain’s most vicious serial killers.
Stephen Wright, dubbed the Suffolk Strangler, is currently serving a life sentence after murdering five sex workers during a killing spree in 2006.
Kerry met the violent killer just one year later – in 2007.
“I met Steve Wright when he arrived and came to the healthcare wing for us to do our initial assessment of him, monitor all his heart rate, blood pressure, all that,” Kerry said in the documentary.
But when she was face-to-face with the killer, she was left baffled at the state of his appearance.
“I was surprised because he looked very normal middle-aged guy, unassuming, it could be someone’s dad, could be someone’s granddad,” she recalled.
“Just someone that you would walk past in the street and you wouldn’t think, “Man, he looks like a serial killer”.
Kerry admitted she had felt “vulnerable” in his presence, being a female member of staff.
“It’s nerve wracking, but you are not there to judge that person, you have to maintain professionalism,” she said.
But this wasn’t her first rodeo with a difficult prisoner as she had faced a scary situation on one of her first jobs.
Kerry was tasked with handling a prisoner who had been stabbed in the face with a sharp makeshift weapon that had horrifically pierced straight through his chin.
“Society tells you this person is a heinous human being, committed his horrible crime, and now we want you to look after them, be kind to them, it’s difficult,” she admitted.
“It could be scary, I knew that I was going to be working with dangerous people.”
“Prisoners may have had no contact with a woman, in five, 10, 15 years,” she added.
“If you’re new, you’re fresh meat. They make comments to you, whistle at you. It’s unnerving, you don’t want unwanted attention from people who you know are dangerous.”
Kerry even revealed that the staff at HMP Long Lartin – which also housed infamous gangster Reggie Kray – were discouraged from googling the prisoners they were looking after.
Prison psychologist, Dr Jacqueline Blyth, also spoke in the documentary on coming face-to-face with serial killer Colin Ireland.
The vicious murderer killed five gay men in 1993 and was sentenced to life in prison until he died in 2012.
She was given the task to decide whether he was fit for parole after having to sift through graphic files.
Dr Blyth recalled feeling horrified by Ireland’s crimes, admitting that she felt “nervous” being in the same room as him and that the memories continue to haunt her.
