Lee Mercer, from Skelmersdale, who was jailed for four years and seven months after admitting intentional strangulation, ABH, making threats to kill and criminal damage, has died in prison. He passed away at HMP Wymott, near Leyland, on 14 July 2026, at the age of 45.
Attacks over four days
Preston Crown Court heard that Mercer, then 44, assaulted his victim in two separate attacks within a four-day period. He strangled the woman and issued death threats, vowing to kill her children and demanding she choose which child would die first.
Prosecutor Andrew MacIntosh said Mercer turned aggressive when consuming alcohol and cocaine during summer 2024. He destroyed property and ruined photographs of the woman with her grandmother. On one occasion, he threatened suicide as a 'punishment'.
The first attack
On 16 October, the woman stayed upstairs at her residence to avoid Mercer, who had been drinking and using drugs. He called her downstairs, claiming he could not operate the television. He then grew angry, wrapped his arm around her neck in a chokehold, and forced her to the ground. Her ankle was injured, and when he kicked the bedroom door shut, it struck her wrist.
During that night, Mercer choked the woman and subjected her to a sustained assault. At one point, he struck her in the face with a vodka bottle. He also held a large kitchen knife to her throat and ordered her to stay silent. Eventually, his rage subsided and he told her he would never harm her again.
The second attack
On 19 October, Mercer told the woman they were 'going to have words' after she had dropped her cousin home. He brandished a pair of scissors at her, saying 'you're going to die', then placed his arm around her neck in a chokehold and punched her in the ribs. He threatened to murder her and her children, demanding she go out and buy cocaine for him, warning that if she failed to return within half an hour, her children would be 'dead'.
The following day, the woman told Mercer she needed to take her child to the walk-in centre, but instead rang her mother, saying she desperately needed help. She drove to her mother's house, where the two women reported the attacks to police.
Victim impact
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "I was literally living in hell. He knew this. He told me I had met the devil referring to himself. I now know he is pure evil."
She said she now suffers from PTSD and is unable to watch television as it triggers her symptoms. She carries guilt over her attempts to shield her children while Mercer threatened their lives, and no longer attends exercise classes or goes on her daily walks as she once did.
"I find myself waking up in the night screaming and crying," she said. "I feel like Lee is in bed next to me, calling me a slag and telling me it's going to be me or the kids first."
"I find myself isolating myself inside the house. My friends have noticed how much I have changed. They say I am no longer my happy self and I am closed off."
"It is traumatising. I don't deserve the behaviour he has inflicted on me. Even though he can't get to me I am still afraid. He is the devil - he has not only destroyed my life, he has destroyed me."
Investigation
Following Mercer's imprisonment, he was relocated to HMP Wymott, where he died on 14 July this year. A spokesperson for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said: "An independent investigation into Lee Mercer's death at HMP Wymott on 14 July 2026 has begun. We will make our final report public after the inquest concludes."
