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image copyrightCleveland Police
image captionStacey Murray, formerly Stacey Cooper, was found dead in Redcar on New Year s Eve 2019
A man charged with murdering a mother-of-six took his own life amid fears he would be sliced up in jail, an inquest has been told.
Liam Murray was found hanged in January 2020 while on remand at HMP Durham.
He had been charged with the murder of Stacey Murray, 34, formerly known as Stacey Cooper, who was found dead at an address in Malham Gill, Redcar, Teesside, on New Year s Eve.
Mr Murray was described as having a number of mental health issues.
The top ten most dangerous areas of the country for violent crimes such as murders, sex attacks and thefts are almost all in the north of England, a new league table of misdemeanours revealed today.
Cleveland has the highest proportion of crime victims in England and Wales where almost one in ten people living in towns such as Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar have been targeted in the past year.
Six people in the area were murdered or killed there in a spate of violent crimes between Christmas and New Year 2019 alone.
Cleveland, where arson rates are four times the national average, is followed by nearby West Yorkshire in second, South Yorkshire in third, Durham in fourth and Humberside in fifth.
For Ian Handley, owner of The Coachmakers Arms, hospitality is doing its best, and has been an easy target throughout the pandemic.
He said: I don t see how we can be behind the increase. At my pub we re doing everything we can. If you don t want to eat then you can t drink. Simple as that. Hospitality is constantly blamed, but we know what the rules are and we re enforcing them. We ve had marshals, police and Environmental Health visit on multiple occasions. All anybody can think about is pubs, pubs, pubs.
Likewise, Market Cafe owner Nando Joaquim said it would be physically impossible for establishments like his to be spreading the virus.