An inquest has established that convicted murderer Simon Hall’s death was caused by hanging.

The 36-year-old, who confessed last year to killing Joan Albert at her home in Boydlands, Capel St Mary, was found unconscious in his cell at HMP Wayland, near Thetford, on February 23, but attempts to resuscitate him failed.

An inquest was opened to establish the reason for his death.

Last month, Hall’s wife Stephanie told this paper that her husband was not able to live with himself after confessing to killing the 79-year-old widow.

She said her husband had previously made attempts on his life, having admitted his guilt 11 years after being arrested and subsequently jailed.

Hall, formerly of Hill House Road, Ipswich, had protested his innocence until admitting his guilt last August when he was an inmate at Hollesley Bay open prison, near Woodbridge.

Earlier in the year he had been taken to Ipswich Hospital in what was said to have been a life-threatening condition.

Mrs Albert was found in the hallway of her home on December 16, 2001. She had been stabbed five times.

Hall had claimed his conviction was a miscarriage of justice and launched a series of appeals, winning the backing of MPs, appearing in the BBC documentary Rough Justice and submitting two applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to consider his case.

He was found hanging from the bed in his cell in the early hours of Sunday, February 23.

Norfolk coroner Jacqueline Lake said Hall was found by a prison officer.

The inquest will be reviewed on or before May 22.