Ackland held at notorious ‘lifer’s prison’ Long Lartin

MURDERER Cody Ackland has been locked up in one of the country’s most secure prisons – where his fellow inmates include some of the country’s worst serial killers.

Musician Ackland, aged 24, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to the murder of 18-year-old BobbiAnne McLeod.

He has been remanded into custody ahead of sentencing, when he will be given an inevitable life sentence when he returns to Plymouth Crown Court next month. Ackland’s plea made him a ‘Category A’ prisoner and he was taken to HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.

It is one of the country’s eight maximum security jails and houses a high number of ‘lifers’.

Ackland pleaded guilty to the murder of the teenager, from Leigham in Plymouth, between November 19 and November 23 last year. She vanished from a bus stop near her home and her body was found at Bovisand a few days later. Few details emerged in a 15-minute hearing.

Ackland was remanded into custody to be sentenced on May 19. He faces a mandatory life sentence with a minimum tariff, which he will have to serve before he can be considered for release – likely to be more than 20 years.

Ackland had admitted killing Bobbi-Anne, whom he did not know, months before but his plea was adjourned for a psychiatric report until this week.

Inmates at HMP Long Lartin include former Wiltshire taxi driver Christopher Halliwell, convicted of the murder of two women. He is thought to have killed more and is serving a whole-life term – meaning he will die behind bars.

Steve Wright, the so-called Suffolk Strangler who murdered five young women, is also at the jail.