A prison watchdog is investigating after Gavin Banks, 48, and Dylan Rose, 29, were found dead at HMP Hindley in Wigan

17:55, 19 Jun 2025Updated 18:26, 19 Jun 2025

Gavin Banks(Image: GMP)

Two inmates collapsed and died within three days of each other at a troubled prison in Greater Manchester. Gavin Banks, 48, from Oldham, who was serving time for robbing a widow as she slept, was found dead at HMP Hindley in Wigan on June 4 and two days later Dylan Rose, 29, from Liverpool, also died.

The deaths were confirmed today by the Prison Service as the Prison and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) begins separate investigations into the deaths at HMP Hindley, a category C prison which can house up to 400 inmates. Prison officials believe the deaths are unconnected.

The prison was criticised heavily by the PPO in 2023 after officers took 23 minutes to respond to an inmate who later died of a cardiac arrest. Last year prisoner officer at the prison dismissed concerns about the welfare of a killer inmate who later died as he was ‘probably having a laugh’, according to another report which criticised healthcare at the prison.

Banks, of Rydal Avenue in Chadderon, Oldham, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in 2021 after he robbed an elderly widow while wearing a ‘Covid’ mask.

With another man, he broke into the neighbour’s home whilst she was asleep, smashing the glass in her back door before coming into the bedroom where she was sleeping armed with a hammer, Minshull Street Crown Court was told. The terrified woman fled into a bathroom.

Banks then demanded ‘where’s the money?’ before she handed over £800 which she had been saving up for work on the house. The robbers left the house – leaving a trail of footprints in the snow from the back garden to the house next door.

The crime left their victim, whose husband had died two years earlier, frozen with fear, the court heard. Banks was jailed after he pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary.

Sentencing Banks, Recorder Imran Shafi QC told Banks: “One can only imagine her sheer terror of being confronted by two masked men. What makes the offending even worse is that she had helped you and your grandmother.

“She still feels violated and has had to put locks on all the doors of her house, and is shaken that her neighbour committed such a brutish act. She initially thought she might be killed.”

Following the deaths of Banks and Rose, a Prison Service spokesperson said: “Gavin Banks died in custody at HMP Hindley on 4 June, 2025. Dylan Rose died in custody at HMP Hindley on 6 June, 2025. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

Bolton Coroners’ Court has opened inquests into both deaths.