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A transgender prisoner has described the harrowing moment she lay behind her father and ended his life after their suicide pact had failed.

In 2016, Claire Darbyshire was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of four years for murdering her dad Brian.

The 36-year-old claimed she had entered into a suicide pact with him, but that the overdoses they had taken had not worked.

Instead, Claire suffocated her 67-year-old father at his home in Wykeham Green, Dagenham, east London,

"He had MS, was bed-bound and wanted to commit suicide, but he couldn't do it on his own," she said in an interview on ITV series Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp.

"I helped him. When he decided he wanted to be suffocated. He said that would be easiest because at least then he could have a hand in it, he could hold the bag.

"And I laid behind him and held the back of the bag. His breathing got quicker and quicker, and then slower, and then I heard his last breath, and I knew he was gone."

After Darbyshire was found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey, sentencing judge Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC said he accepted the killing was an act of mercy.

"I accept your evidence that your father did raise the question of ending his own life and he wanted to do that and wanted your help to do so," the judge said.

As understandable as her motivations may have been, Darbyshire had still unlawfully killed her father and has no defence to the charge of murder.

She was sentenced to life in prison, with one of the shortest minimum terms - four years - in British legal history.

Three years and eight months into her sentence, Darbyshire spoke with Kemp about her life inside the notorious Thamesmead, south-east London prison.

Because she is a pre-operation trans woman, Darbyshire can be housed in an all male prison.

"At first I found that very daunting," she told Kemp of her time inside.

"It was like 'I'm the odd one out. How are they going to treat me as a trans person?'"

While she had managed to stay out of harms way by carefully deciding when and when not to leave her cell, she had been the victim of regular slurs.

(Image: PA)

Prisoners had called her a "queer" and "tranny", she said, and told her to "show us your tits".

The jeers left her fearful of being sexually abused.

"I was always on edge," she told Kemp when he asked about how safe she felt in the prison.

"Prison does harden you. You have no choice but to accept prison or it will eat you away."

(Image: ITV)

As the date of her potential release approaches, Darbyshire reflected on the death of her father.

She said: "I was going to commit suicide. I had no reason to live without my dad, but I couldn't do it.

"Something I still feel bad about. I should have gone with him."

The next episode of Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp airs on Thursday, January 23.