Paedophiles face 'nothing short of hell' behind bars as child killers warned they are 'naive' to horrors ahead

Paedophiles and child killers heading to prison are in for a rude awakening, a convicted murderer has warned – as an 82-year-old ex-scout leader described his own incarceration as 'nothing short of hell'. Stuart May, a former scout leader from Sutton Coldfield, was already serving eight years and nine months for 11 offences against four boys when three more victims came forward. This week he was handed another eight years at Birmingham Crown Court – meaning his total sentence has doubled, quashing any hope of a move to an open prison. May's barrister, Sharon Bailey, told the court he describes HMP Birmingham as 'nothing short of hell'. The warning comes as two newly sentenced child killers begin life behind bars: Jamie Varley, who was handed a whole life order for murdering 13-month-old Preston Davey, and his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, who got 25 years for allowing the death and sexual assault. Steve Gallant – who spent 16 years in prison alongside some of the country's most dangerous offenders before being released and awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for stopping the London Bridge attacker – told the Mirror that the pair are 'utterly naive to what they can expect to happen'. 'Neither of them have got previous convictions,' Gallant said. 'The gangster or the armed robber is at the top of that hierarchy, but the sex offender, or somebody who might be called a 'grass', will be at the bottom of the pile and they'll be treated badly throughout the system.' Because of the nature of their crimes, Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley will likely be held in a vulnerable prisoner unit of a Category A prison, where they will be moved separately and use different visiting rooms. But Gallant warned that even there they will not be safe: 'Ian Huntley was on a similar unit in Frankland. Even in those environments, they're not safe.' May, meanwhile, was described by one victim as having 'destroyed so many young lives'. The victim, who was subjected to five of the latest offences, said he blamed himself and prayed every day because he feared he would go to hell. Prosecutor Peter Glenser said May had 'expressed precious little insight into his offending and into the devastation he has reaped on the lives of young children'. Judge Roderick Henderson, passing sentence, called it 'the most obvious case of grooming and abuse of a position as a scout master'. May's wife has been left alone, and his barrister noted that he is 'painfully aware the sentence passed today may mean he never leaves custody'.