Two convicted murderers, one serving life for battering a gay man to death and the other for strangling a male lover, are set to make history in being the UK’s first same-sex prison wedding.
Marc Goodwin, 31, and Mikhail Gallatinov, 40, will tie the knot at the top-security Full Sutton prison, near York, where both men are serving life sentences.
Goodwin was jailed for life in 2007 for the homophobic murder of 57-year-old Malcolm Benfold in Blackpool. He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years before he is considered for parole.
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Goodwin led a three member gang who sought out gay men in Blackpool for “gay bashing” — his own words at the time.
At the time, a judge at Preston Crown Court heard that Goodwin, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, denied the homophobic murder motive and said committed the crime in order to get cash for alcohol.
Benfold was killed with series of fatal blows from either feet or fists, the court heard, which police described as “a savage, senseless homophobic attack that resulted in the death of a harmless man.”
Gallatinov was convicted of murdering his lover, Adrian Kaminsky, 28, in Manchester in 1997 and sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years in prison.
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Trial judge Judge Rhys Davies QC said: “This was a cold-blooded, well-planned, callous, chilling and apparently motiveless killing.”
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman refused to comment on the country’s first same-sex prison wedding, stating, “We do not comment on individuals. Prisoners are entitled to apply to be married in prison under the Marriages Act 1983.”
The spokesman said the ceremony “would take place at no cost to the taxpayer and there is no possibility that they would share a cell.”
