Ex-Dreamboys boss David Richards found dead in cell after prison sentence.
Richards was jailed earlier this year after being found guilty of trying to kill his ex after she kissed TOWIE original Kirk Norcross.
His body was found in Lowdham Grange prison in Nottinghamshire.
It's reported after the former Dreamboys boss was discovered lifeless in his cell, the Category B men’s prison - which houses around 900 inmates - was put into lockdown.
“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 source has claimed.
“A probe into what happened on Monday was launched immediately," they added when speaking to The Sun.
Richards was jailed in January this year for 27 years after attempting to kill ex Alex Alam, 32, with an axe following the end of their relationship.
A court heard how he attempted to ambush Ms Alam, 32, after laying in wait for hours outside her property in Stock, Essex, while her children were inside.
He planned the attack after he caught her kissing TOWIE star Kirk Norcross on her own doorstep, the court was told in November last year.
She suffered a fractured skull and cuts to her face and scalp in the “bloodbath” that ensued, Judge David Turner KC told 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.”
In her victim impact statement, read in court by prosecutor William Carter, she added: “The scars are a constant reminder of what he did to me.”
The judge praised Ms Alam for “courageously” attending the sentencing hearing on January 13, and she wept and was consoled by those who sat beside her in court as details were read out.
Bald-headed Richards, of no fixed address, appeared by video-link from Chelmsford Prison and sobbed through parts of the hearing at the start of this year.
Mr Carter, prosecuting, said Richards took an axe, dry suit and cable ties to the address on April 3, 2022.
“The weapon was taken to the scene and used,” he said.
“Plainly there was planning, the buying of the axe, the dry suit, the cable ties.
“Clearly pre-meditation prior to the night and on the night.
“You will remember he waited a number of hours dressed as he was, with the weapon, waiting for (Ms Alam’s friend) Mr Norcross to depart.”
He noted Ms Alam, who previously ran a beauty salon in Surrey, had said it “really was only the fact she kept on thinking that saved her life”.
Richards was found guilty following an earlier trial of attempted murder.
He was also convicted of breaching a non-molestation order.
The judge told Richards that the events of April 3 were a “hideous culmination of the breakdown some 18 months earlier of your family relationships”.
He said that from the autumn of 2019 there had been reports to police alleging domestic assaults, harassment and stalking among other matters.
He described Richards as being “obsessive” and having a “jealous mindset”.
