A judge warned a Grimsby man who had gone on a violent and sexual attack spree in a hospital mortuary, describing him as having a “very, very dark side,” and he was given a six-year prison sentence.
In the wee hours of March 17, Damon Tingay, 30, broke into the Diana, Princess of Wales hospital in Grimsby. He was captured on camera unlocking several refrigerators and tampering with the bodies.
He had cycled around the hospital grounds for two hours, dodging security personnel.
The judge, John Thackray KC, sentenced him, saying, “You entered the mortuary by forcing an external door when you thought you had escaped them.” CCTV broadcasts the events that follow.
In court, footage showed Tingay sipping from a bottle before unlocking the mortuary door, which was only kept shut by a magnet and lacked a lock.
During the Friday hearing at Grimsby Crown Court, the judge was shown the CCTV footage of the “depraved” incident in private. Tingay did sexual actions on two male bodies and twice punched the body of one man.
According to prosecutor Jeremy Evans, Tingay opened the refrigerators and took off the shrouds of ten remains in total. According to the video, Tingay was apprehended by hospital workers four minutes into the incident, and he was then placed under guard.
Evans stated that Tingay was reported as erratic upon his arrest, yelling and screaming that he had done nothing wrong and, at one point, asserting that he was being held responsible for a friend’s suicide and that he was looking for explanations.
He claimed not to remember the incident during a police questioning.
The father of three admitted to sexually penetrating a corpse during a previous hearing.
The mother and aunt of one of the victims of a sex act revealed the “incredible pain when they discovered what had happened to a dear and precious loved member of their family” in statements they provided to the court.
A man’s brother said in a statement that he experienced nightmares and felt “traumatised” by the idea that his brother’s body “had been disturbed in a place where he trusted he would be safe and at peace” after his drawer was unlocked.
“Your actions were depraved, perverted, indeed utterly grotesque,” Thackray said to Tingay. You defiled and abused loved ones, inflicting unimaginable pain on a great number of victims. You brought about such agony and chaos. It’s possible that the families won’t get better.
The only reason it ended was because security personnel bothered you. There would undoubtedly have been more victims if you had not been interrupted. You definitely have a very, very dark side.
One employee recalled entering a “horrifying scene” with bodies scattered from their shelves and refrigerators open in a statement played aloud in court. “I have seen a lot in my career,” she remarked. One of the worst things I have ever seen was this. It was the disrespect, the indignity. My tears wouldn’t stop.”
Tingay apologised to the families of “those he subjected to degradation and humiliation through his obviously totally appalling behaviour,” according to Craig Lowe, the defence attorney.
He said that Tingay had mental health issues at the time of the offence and that it was “clearly out of character for this friendly, kind, considerate man.”
Tingay has been handed a lifelong sexual harm prevention order in addition to serving six years in prison and a further four years on licence.
About The Author
