Jailed Leeds baseball-bat murderer inflicted brutal assault on Hull child rapist at HMP Wakefield
A convicted murderer carried out a sickening attack on a paedophile in his own prison cell, leaving him partially deaf.
Declan Bickerdike, who was jailed in 2018 for killing a man with a baseball bat during a house burglary, carried out the assault on child rapist Keith Morris, who is serving an 18-year sentence.
Bickerdike entered Morris’ cell at HMP Wakefield, on January 7, 2023, distracted him and then attacked him from behind.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the 26-year-old struck him with an unknown weapon, and when Morris collapsed, Bickerdike then kicked him. Morris, who is now in his late 70s, suffered injuries that caused him to partially lose his hearing.
Morris appeared in court via video link from HMP Wakefield for the sentence. Bickerdike, however, was not present and refused to attend court. He had failed to appear for his trial for which he was found guilty of GBH with intent.
Judge Robin Mairs said: “This was committed when he was 24. The threat he poses remains unabated. There has been no improvement to the level of risk that he poses.
“The acts of violence could easily have resulted in equally-catastrophic consequences as the previous actions. He is still a threat.”
He jailed Bickerdike for seven years, but it will run concurrently to his existing sentence.
Bickerdike, formerly of High Ash Crescent, Alwoodley, was handed his life sentence after the bloody assault at the home of Clifford Amoh.
Bickerdike was just 17 at the time, when he and four other men kicked their way into the property on Coldcotes Crescent, Gipton, at 2am on May 7, 2016, looking to steal cannabis plants.
He attacked the man with the baseball bat, striking him three times to the head. Bickerdike was also found guilty of GBH in 2016 after pouring boiling water over an inmate at HMP Doncaster.
Morris was jailed in 2018 after he was found guilty of raping children during visits to Kenya. The retired locksmith repeatedly visited over a period of about 20 years, and was seen as a "patriarchal figure" in one village.
He would groom young village girls by taking them on trips, buying them meals and let them stay in hotel rooms with him. Even after his arrest he tried to bribe the villagers into having the charges dropped.