Judas Priest's Dave Holland dead at 69: Shamed drummer dies 40 days after cancer diagnosis
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Former Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland has died from liver cancer.
The heavy metal band confirmed that the 69-year-old musician, jailed for eight years in 2004 for the attempted rape of a 17-year-old boy, had died at his hideaway near Lugo in northern Spain.
Tino Monjardin, who became a friend of Holland’s after selling him his Spanish home, told how he was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer after complaining about tummy trouble.
He said: “He began to complain about stomach pains and went to see a doctor.
(Image: Hulton Archive)
(Image: Redferns)
“At first he was told he was suffering from stomach gas and given medicine to treat it but after ending up in A&E at hospital in Lugo they had a good look at him and told him he had metastatic liver cancer.
“A few days later they diagnosed him with lung cancer as well.”
Tino, a regular visitor to the musician’s rural home in the hamlet of Lamas de Campos a short drive from the original pilgrimage route to the Galician cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, told local paper La Voz de Galicia: “The house belonged to some people from here who live in a neighbouring province.
“He saw it and said he had fallen in love with it.
“Although he bought it two years ago, he only moved in permanently two months before his death.
(Image: Archive Photos)
“He wasn’t able to enjoy it for long. He didn’t even have time to fix the kitchen or put heating in.”
Antiquarian Mr Monjardin said Holland sworn him to secrecy after confiding in him he had been diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
He spent a fortnight after his diagnosis in an OAP home in the town of Fonsagrada before being transferred to the Lucas Augusti University Hospital in Lugo where he died on January 16.
He passed away just 40 days after he was told he had secondary liver cancer. His ashes were taken back to the UK by a friend after a local incineration.
The drummer was found guilty of attempted rape and indecent assault against a 17-year-old he was giving lessons to in 2004.
(Image: Redferns)
He denied assaulting the teen, who had learning difficulties, at his rural English home in 2002.
Prosecutors said at the time the teenager, who had sometimes stayed overnight at his house while taking lessons, wrote a letter to his parents in December 2002 describing the abuse.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison for one charge of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault.
Northampton-born Holland was released from prison in 2012.
Before joining Judas Priest in 1979, he played in a series of pop and rock bands including Finders Keepers and Trapeze.
Judas Priest’s heavy-metal classics included You’ve Got Another Thing Coming and Hell Bent for Leather.
Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K Downing wrote on Facebook after learning of Holland’s death: “It is with deep regret that I have to accept the sudden and unexpected news that Dave Holland has passed away.
“He was a solid friend in life and solid musician both on the stage and in the studio.”