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A Yorkshire sex offender who preyed on girls between six and seven years old died from heart failure while serving a sentence at HMP Hull a report has revealed.
David Raymond May, 57 at the time of his death, was jailed for the historic offences, carried out between 1996 and 1998, in November 2019. He was given five years behind bars for what was described as "a sickening sexual assault on a very young and vulnerable girl".
In January 2021, May was reported to be suffering from a persistent cough chest pain but tested negative for Covid-19. Further investigations at Hull Royal Infirmary found that he was suffering from widespread cancer.
May would eventually succumb to heart failure in September of that year with his condition being linked to a chemotherapy drug. He was also suffering from testicular cancer which contributed to, but did not cause, his death according to the report.
May had initially received a six-year prison sentence at Lincoln Crown Court in May 2005 for indecent assaults on a seven-year-old girl between 2003 and 2004. He would later be hauled back before the courts in 2019 for the historic offence committed between 1996 and 1998.
North Yorkshire Police said May's victim was aged about six or seven when the attack happened and the offence was first reported to them in 2018. May had denied the attack until the first day of his trial in November 2019 when he pleaded guilty.
May, formerly of St Phillip's Grove in York, groomed the girl by offering money. He isolated her in part of the house where he indecently assaulted her.
May was sentenced to five years behind bars and was sent to HMP Hull. At the time of his conviction Detective Constable Alastair Foy, of North Yorkshire Police, said: This was a sickening sexual assault on a very young and vulnerable girl which had a massive and lasting impact on every aspect of her life."
A report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman published in July this year has revealed that May died while serving his sentence for the attack. He first complained of chest pains and a persistent cough in January 2021.
Tests for Covid-19 proved negative but blood tests returned abnormal results and later investigations at Hull Royal Infirmary found May was suffering from widespread cancer. On April 25, he was transferred to St Jamess University Hospital, where he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
May was treated with a combination of chemotherapy medication and on July 25, he was discharged from hospital and was taken back to Hull. On July 29 he fell ill in his cell once again with symptoms consistent with post-chemotherapy.
May was sent to hospital for assessment on another occasion during in August before a marked deterioration on August 25 when he once again complained of chest pains and was weak with shortness of breath. There was a four hour delay for a non-emergency ambulance call during which time his condition deteriorated further.
His call was upgraded to an emergency call and he eventually arrived in hospital at 2.35am the following morning. Mr May was taken to St Jamess University Hospital and he was treated for community acquired pneumonia.
On September 16, it was confirmed that Mr May had died in hospital. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said: "The pathologist gave Mr Mays cause of death as acute cor pulmonale (heart failure) caused by bleomycin toxicity (a recognised complication that can occur with the use of a chemotherapeutic drug, bleomycin). He also had disseminated germ cell tumour of testis (testicular cancer), which did not cause but contributed to his death."
Mr May was the 14th prisoner to die at HMP Hull since September 2019. Of the previous deaths, five were from natural causes, seven were self-inflicted and one was drug related.
The report concluded that there were no significant similarities between the findings in the investigation into Mr Mays death and findings from the investigations into the previous deaths. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman did not find any non-clinical issues of concern.
The report said: "The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Mr May received at Hull was of a reasonable standard and equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community. She made a number of recommendations about the need for healthcare staff to accurately record clinical observations using the NEWS2 tool, ensuring that specialist services are updated when a prisoners health deteriorates and that staff complete appropriate assessments when a prisoner returns from hospital."