Teacher who abused boys dies in prison
Butterworth was locked up in HMP Lincoln
A 71-year-old former teacher who sexually abused boys has died in prison.
The retired teacher from Countesthorpe Graham Butterworth, 71, died in HMP Lincoln last month.
His death is being investigated as a potential case of Legionnaires’ disease, officials have confirmed.
The Ministry of Justice said the prison was working with Public Health England and other health agencies to establish the cause of death, including the possibility that Butterworth had contracted Legionnaires’ disease.
However, it said no other inmates in the prison, which has a population of 738, had shown symptoms of the disease.
Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal lung infection caused by legionella bacteria, which can be carried in water.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Lincoln prisoner Graham Butterworth died in custody on 5 December 2017.
“As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”
Butterworth was jailed for 11 years in September last year after he was convicted at Leicester Crown Court of nine counts of indecently assaulting one boy, aged between 12 and 15, and one count of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old, between 1977 and 1983.
Those offences were said to be unconnected with the time he spent teaching at Coleman Road Infant and Junior School, in Evington, Leicester.
Further victims came forward after Butterworth’s crimes were reported in the media.
Last month, he was handed an additional two years in jail after admitting a string of further historical sex offences against young boys.
Appearing at Leicester Crown Court by video link from prison, he admitted 10 further counts of indecent assault on five victims under the age of 14.
He was jailed for a further two years.
One of his victims told the Mercury at the time: “When he abused me, I was a schoolboy of 10 or 11 and he was my teacher. He has shown no remorse.
“What he did has affected me greatly. I went from being a boisterous lad to being withdrawn and lacking confidence.”