A serial burglar who killed a coin collector has died in prison aged 59. Paul Paget, from Newport, committed manslaughter by tying the vulnerable Anthony Bubbins' hands with shoelaces and blocking his airways with a sock.
In June 2018, Paget was jailed for 15 years and six months for manslaughter and burglary. A newly released prisons ombudsman report states he died in 2023 of a heart attack in his cell at high-security Kent prison HMP Swaleside. The report found there were various failings by prison workers involved in the case.
Paget's trial at Newport Crown Court heard the body of his 57-year-old victim was found at the killer's home in Brynderwen Road, Newport, by housing officers who were looking for Paget. Mr Bubbins' hands were tied behind his back, a long sock had been forced into his mouth and a pillow had been placed over his face.
Mr Bubbins had last been seen alive on January 9, 2018, six days before his body was found in the flat where Paget had lured him. The court heard he was a “vulnerable person who lived a reclusive life” collecting coins and other items of value. In the days before the body was found Paget had been stealing from Mr Bubbins' home in Christchurch Road. Paget was seen visiting buy and sell shops in Newport and Cwmbran where he sold items thought to belong to Mr Bubbins.
He then fled to Devon where he was caught with several of Mr Bubbins' possessions including ornaments, a football shirt, house keys, and a fake Rolex watch. He admitted burglary but told a jury he had accidentally killed Mr Bubbins in an argument. The jury found him guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of murder.
During the sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court a harrowing statement was read from the victim's daughter Emily Bubbins, who said the world was a "lonely place" as she had no siblings and her mother had died two and a half years earlier. "I am back to square one with the grief," she said in the statement. "I am having to come to terms with losing both parents before the age of 30. I have strived my whole life to become someone and now there is no one there to be proud of that."
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Picken said: "This was a truly horrible way in which to die." The judge added that Paget had shown "a callous lack of remorse" for the "degradation and humiliation" he put his victim through. The court heard Paget was a serial thief whose previous offences included a robbery in which he tied up a worker at a railway signalling site.
After serving the early months of his sentence in another prison, Paget was transferred to Swaleside in January 2019. The high-security jail on the Isle of Sheppey holds up to 1,090 men serving sentences of at least four years. Paget had many long-term health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, asthma, high blood pressure, lung disease and a history of heart attacks.
Prisons ombudsman Adrian Usher wrote in his report: "He had a lot of contact with healthcare staff but did not always cooperate with medical advice, attend appointments, or take his medication. In August 2022, a GP at the prison made a referral to a vascular consultant but Mr Paget died before he was able to attend an appointment."
At around 8.40am on January 17, 2023, a prison officer found Paget unresponsive. An ambulance crew arrived at the prison at 8.54am but did not reach the cell until around 20 minutes later. Resuscitation attempts by prison staff and paramedics were unsuccessful and Paget's death was confirmed at 9.25am. Mr Usher wrote: "Prison staff appeared unprepared for the arrival of the paramedics, so there was a significant delay in escorting them from the prison gate to Mr Paget’s cell."
An inquest found Paget died of natural causes. But the clinical reviewer concluded that Paget did not receive the care he could have expected to receive in the community. They found that healthcare staff "did not start monitoring Mr Paget’s conditions promptly and no care plans were in place". Mr Usher added: "Additionally, there was no evidence of any action in response to Mr Paget’s reluctance to take medication and attempts to conceal medication."
Paget was the 22nd prisoner to have died at Swaleside in three years. Of the previous deaths 11 were due to natural causes, eight were self-inflicted and two were related to substance misuse. The ombudsman recommended that the jail ensure newly arrived prisoners with long-term medical conditions are managed appropriately and that there are no delays in paramedics entering the prison. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.
