EX-Dreamboys boss David Richards has been found dead in his cell after he was jailed for trying to kill his ex.
Obsessive Richards, 42, lay in wait for five hours before pouncing on former model Alex Alam after she kissed reality TV star Kirk Norcross.
His lifeless body has since been found in his cell.
Warders raised the alarm at Lowdham Grange nick in Nottinghamshire.
An independent probe was yesterday under way at the Category B men’s prison, which is run by French multi-services firm Sodexo.
After the discovery, the wing with around 900 other inmates on, was locked down.
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A source said: “It’s a huge shock. Richards’s case was high profile and so he had kept his head down since arriving at the nick.
“A probe into what happened on Monday was launched immediately.”
Richards was jailed in January for 27 years after waiting outside his former lover’s home in Stock, Essex, and launching a "bloodbath” attack.
Ms Alam, 32, desperately FaceTimed The Only Way Is Essex TV star Kirk on her iPad to tell him: “I am dying – he has killed me, he has done me.”
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The e-model, who suffered three skull fractures and needed 100 stitches, also begged: “Please get my kids. He is going to finish us off.”
Deranged tycoon Richards, who founded male stripper troupe Dreamboys before selling it for more than £1million in 2019, sobbed as he was sent to jail.
He had been convicted of attempted murder at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Ms Alam said: "I've been utterly betrayed beyond belief by the person I chose to have children with, turning my life upside down."
She also told how her scars are a "constant reminder" of what Richards did to her.
Jurors heard how Richards and Ms Alam were in a relationship for nine years before she booted him out.
She suffered years of abuse from the ex-boxer and repeatedly reported him to police for domestic assaults, harassment and stalking.
The brunette was granted a non-molestation order after making an assault claim in April last year.
The following day, Richards went to his former home and waited "in the shadows" for five hours until he saw Kirk and Ms Alum smooching.
Armed with an axe, dry suit and cable ties, he pounced on his ex as she went outside with her dogs.
Richards smashed his ex repeatedly over the head with an axe while screaming: "Kirk Norcross? Kirk Norcross – in my house?”
Reliving the horror, Ms Alam said: “He said, ‘Shut up’, and then he f*****g hit me over the head straightaway.
“I think he hit me twice, but I didn’t go down and he hit me again. I said, ‘David, don’t.’”
She told the court how Richards screamed "shut the f*** up" as he bound her with cable ties and dragged her by her hair.
'I WAS GOING TO GET HACKED TO PIECES'
Ms Alam, who used to run a beauty salon in Surrey, added: "Every time I was screaming or begging he was getting more angry.
"I realised I was going to get hacked to pieces. I knew he was going to do me, and then he was going to do the kids.”
The brave mum managed to escape and fled back into her house with blood pouring from her life-threatening wounds.
Ms Alam then armed herself with a kitchen knife, hid in a bedroom and called 34-year-old Kirk and the police.
The TV pin-up, who also appeared in the ninth series of Celebrity Big Brother, told jurors how he answered the call to find Ms Alam clutching the blade while covered in blood.
He raced back to the house and found her two young children crying in the hall.
Richards fled and was chased by armed police before being arrested in Ipswich, the town where his mother lives. He told officers: "I have done the most stupid thing in my life.”
The beast pleaded guilty to breaking the non-molestation order but denied attempted murder.
Judge Turner described Richards as “obsessive” and having a “jealous mindset”.
He added: “Your dream home, family and lifestyle to which you had aspired had very sadly unravelled and left you depressed, isolated and angry. This crime was planned and prepared for.”
Investigating officer Detective Jenny Clarke, from the Essex Police Domestic Abuse Investigation Team, said at the time: “Richards subjected Alex to a horrific ordeal and left her with injuries which will affect her for the rest of her life.
“Despite this, she has bravely given vital evidence in court and helped ensure he will be behind bars for the foreseeable future.
"He thought he could commit a dreadful crime, flee, and get away with it. He’s been proved wrong and rightfully where he deserves to be.”
Last night a spokesperson for HMP Lowdham Grange told The Sun: “We can confirm that a prisoner died at HMP Lowdham Grange on 13 March 2023.
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“The next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with the family.
“As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and therefore we are unable to comment further at this stage.”
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