Barrowford nurse’s killer appears on ‘Strangeways’ TV documentary

BARROWFORD nurse murderer Jonathan Vass has told a TV crew he hopes that one day he will be let out of prison and re-united with his children during a “Strangeways” documentary filmed for ITV.

Viewers were shown Vass’s lack of remorse towards his former partner Jane Clough, who he stabbed to death in the car park of Blackpool Victoria Hospital last July.

The episode, shown on Monday evening, focuses on the health care unit in HMP Manchester’s medical wing, and gave viewers an insight into one of the country’s most dangerous prisons. Vass is serving a life sentence for Jane’s murder.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The programme heard how he cut her eyes out of a newspaper after he was sentenced for her murder and filmed him saying, “I miss her and I feel empty. I miss her but I hate her, I hate her so much.”

Staff were assessing the 31-year-old who was put on suicide watch after he was given a life sentence.

On assessment, a prison nurse said she believed Vass was still a danger.

She said: “To me it’s the eyes. The eyes just give it away, there’s no emotion there whatsoever. For quite some time I think he will be quite dangerous. He actually said he had no victim empathy and it was all her fault.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Vass was also heard saying he hopes to be released from prison and be part of his three children’s lives - one of whom is Jane’s one-year-old daughter.

He said: “Hopefully one day if and when I get released, I will be part of their lives.”

When Vass committed the horrific attack at Jane’s workplace, he was on bail and awaiting trial for allegedly raping her while pregnant with his daughter.

Before the programme aired, Jane’s parents Penny and John were contacted by the Crown Prosecution Service’s probation department who told them Vass would be appearing in the documentary for 15-20 seconds.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Penny said: “I contacted the producers and they said they had filmed him and it showed him to be the evil man he is. The prison staff had even commented afterwards saying they had sussed him out and he had not fooled them.

“To us it has done what we wanted and it has shown any doubters out there he is an awful man.”

Related topics: