MONSTERS OF ROCK Lags to perform in show written by se x killer

LAGS in the prison known as Monster Mansion are set to stage a rock opera written by sex killer Graham Coutts.

The show at HMP Wakefield is said to have the governor’s blessing and Coutts, who murdered violinist Jane Longhurst in 2003, has likened it to The Who’s epic Tommy.

Staff at the jail – which houses many of our most notorious lags, including serial hostage-taker and keen singer Charles Bronson – refer to the event as Monsters of Rock.

It is understood an application has been made for Arts Council funding and a source said of the show: “It’s sure to cause a stir.” The production is called The 4 Lives of Jimmy G and inmate performers will be joined by members of charity Project Instrumental, which visited them last November.

The show is set for four performances over two days in September and will feature a choir, string orchestra, rock band and solo singers. Coutts, 48, has told fellow lags that if it is a success he intends to write a book based on it.

He revealed his plans on a blog understood to be published by a third party on the outside.

Coutts said: “We got the go- ahead and we’ve been planning sets, costumes, digital projections, programmes and a graphic novel. We need funding to bridge the gap between what the prison is providing and the ‘wish-list’. “However, even if we don’t do the full ‘bunting and tinsel’ version, there will be a performance. We had our first rehearsal last Thursday. I could hardly contain my joy; it went so well.” Coutts was jailed for life in 2004 for murdering Jane, 31, in Brighton, East Sussex. He strangled her with a pair of stockings and hid her body in his garden shed before moving it to a self-storage centre.