A hitman who’s in prison for killing a mother of two has demanded to have IVF treatment so he can become a father from behind bars.
28-year-old Aaron Newman is currently serving a prison sentence after murdering 30-year-old Hayley Pointon in 2013.
The hitman and his accomplice Aaron Power, were hired to kill Hayley’s boyfriend Nigel Barwell. The pair waited outside Nigel’s house, and fired shots when the couple came outside.
The gunmen missed Nigel, who ran back inside, but hit Hayley. Both of the mother’s lungs were pierced, and she died before paramedics could get to the scene, the Metro report.
Newman and Power each blamed the other for the murder, and the court was told the real killer would likely never be known. Both men were jailed for life, with a minimum of 31 years.
The 28-year-old prisoner expressed his desire to become a father in the prison magazine Inside Time, where he argued he should have a ‘right’ to become a father.
He wrote:
As a lifer in the dispersal system who has no children, I should have the right to conceive a child by natural or even artificial means.
If the prison system was to say they were going to trial private family visits for well-behaved prisoners, it would be twice a year and would be 30 minutes.
Newman continued:
It must be your wife/partner and you have to be IEP/warning free/adjudication free/enhanced for the period leading up to it or you would lose the privilege.
The levels of violence in custody rate would be more than halved. I personally would only leave my cell for gym, work and food and would bang up early daily not to lose the (conjugal) visits.
I’m sure many others would agree with me in my situation. We all need to get together and fight for the right to have conjugal visits.
Hayley’s mother Kerry Pointon was outraged at his argument, and said the hitman should be castrated.
Speaking to the Mirror’s Sunday People, she said:
Why should he have kids when Hayley’s are being brought up without their mum?
He lost his rights to fatherhood when he murdered my daughter. It’s ridiculous. He needs to be castrated.
He won’t be much of a dad because he won’t be around. What’s he going to teach them? Morals? I wanted Newman in prison knowing he can’t have the things you get on the outside. That’s what keeps me going.
We’re the ones with the life sentence, not them. Hayley’s children have the life sentence. He’ll be out one day.
Bosses at the Ministry of Justice reportedly said IVF requests are ‘subject to strict assessment’ and ‘permission is given extremely rarely’.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.