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A paedophile was left alone to die at a high security prison, an inquest has heard.

Peter Gibson, 68, died two years into a 13-year jail sentence for a catalogue of horrific sex offences against children, including rape which dated back decades.

Gibson lived in Bowburn, County Durham, during the 1990s when he carried out a campaign of sexual abuse against two young girls.

An inquest heard how the paedophile was left unsupervised in the medical wing of HMP Frankland after vomiting blood in the prison canteen.

County Durham Coroner’s Court heard he waited several hours for an ambulance with no check ups by healthcare assistants.

G4S which runs the healthcare at the notorious jail, has put new systems in place to ensure that all prisoners entering the medical wing have a care plan in place from now on.

Senior Coroner Andrew Tweddle said: “It stuck me as being almost unbelievable that what happened in this case happened. That Mr Gibson was left unsupervised for quite a period of time when there was clearly a medical concern from a nurse and a doctor.”

A representative from G4S told Mr Tweddle that the new care plan policy had been rolled out to prisons across the North East.

Mr Tweddle also hit out at the prison staff for failing to use the correct codes when reporting Gibson’s illness over the radio system.

He said: “It is time, in fact it is long past time, that the code systems are properly understood and followed. Prison staff may panic when they find a body or someone dying but they should use the codes.”

The inquest also heard there was some confusion after the medical staff had called for an urgent ambulance to arrive within an hour for Gibson, as they then made a second call for an emergency ambulance for a different inmate who had cut open an artery.

Mr Tweddle concluded that Gibson died of natural causes and a post mortem found that he suffered organ failure of his stomach.

In 2013 Gibson had been sentenced to 13-and-a-half-years behind bars at Durham Crown Court after pleading guilty to 15 sexual offences against two girls – including four counts of rape of a young girl.

The pensioner had a history of carrying out sex offences and in 1998 he was sentenced to six years in jail for the rape of a child.

G4S have been contacted and did not wish to give any additional comment.