Sunday People

LAGS RUN A KNIFE FACTORY IN PRISON

Inmates make 100s of blades & ship them to other jails

- by Dan Warburton feedback@people.co.uk

A SHOCKING knife factory has been discovered INSIDE a prison – and some of the horrendous blades may have been sent to other jails by an unsuspecti­ng courier firm.

The weapons machine-room was in the engineerin­g unit at a Category B lock-up nicknamed Stab City.

Inmates used prison equipment to churn out a range of lethal weapons including 12-inch knives honed to a killing point.

The convicts were able to get away with their horrendous production at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, because there were no metal detector scanners.

And a source claims that a courier firm which had a contract to deliver legitimate goods to other jails was used without its knowledge to send the killer blades to other jails.

Massive

The dangerous racket has now been smashed after prison officers seized 125 makeshift knives.

But a former inmate claims the true number of weapons secretly made at the jail could be as high as 400.

A source said: “It was unreal – they were massive blades being made under the noses of the prison guards.

“There’s a packing centre in Swaleside where men pack goods like tins of tuna and Coco Pops to be delivered to inmates at other prisons.

“People in Swaleside were using a smuggled mobile phone to take orders for weapons, then someone in the packing centre was hiding them in boxes and sending them out.

“There was a massive operation to find the weapons and a number of inmates were transferre­d to other jails.

“But no-one knows how many knives were made and how many remain in circulatio­n.”

Prison chiefs launched a probe last month after receiving intelligen­ce about the sophistica­ted operation.

Shocking pictures obtained by the Sunday People show makeshift blades measuring nearly 12 inches with a grip made from steel wire.

Another image showed a 10-inch blade handcrafte­d from steel with a handle wrapped in tape.

The discovery sparked an overhaul of security at the jail, with metal detectors now deployed at the workshop entrance and restrictio­ns on which prisoners are permitted to go in the workshop.

Ex-prison officer Dave Todd, who worked at Swaleside between 1992 and 2016, also claimed the cou

rier firm was unwittingl­y used to transport illegal drugs from one prison to another.

The Armed Forces veteran said: “Quite often inmates would use the packing centre to transport drugs to other prisons.

“It’s easy because the scanners won’t pick up things like cannabis next to cornflakes.”

Our revelation comes just weeks after Boris Johnson pledged £100 million for airport-style security at UK jails such as X-ray scanners and metal detectors to shore-up prison security

But Labour MP Richard Burgon said: “This makes a mockery of Boris Johnson’s claim that the Tories are getting a grip of the prisons crisis. You can’t trust a word they say.

Attacked

“Tory cuts have left our prisons more chaotic and violent than ever.

“Just this week new figures showed there are still thousands fewer prison officers under the Tories.

“Labour will sort out this prisons crisis by restoring prison officer numbers to 2010 levels, something the Tories are simply refusing to do.”

In July a lag at HMP Swaleside was taken to hospital after being attacked with an improvised weapon, known in prison slang as a shank.

Home- made knives have been used in lethal stabbings at other jails.

Last month notorious paedophile Richard Huckle, 33, from Kent, who was serving 22 life terms, was stabbed to death by another inmate with a makeshift knife at Full

Sutton prison near York. In January dad-of-four Stephen O’donnell, 33, was killed by another home-made knife at Risley prison near Warrington, Cheshire.

And last year a prisoner died after being stabbed through the heart and lungs with a shank at Wormwood Scrubs in London.

There is no suggestion any of these weapons came from Swaleside but the discovery of the “Stab City” arsenal has added to the prison’s grim reputation. It was the scene of a fierce riot when 60 prisoners took over their wing and lit fires in 2016.

Last year the prison, which was built in 1988, was described as a “simmering volcano by former guards and lags.

It was plagued by extreme violence and bullying, fuelled by the synthetic cannabis drug Spice.

An unannounce­d prison inspection in December concluded violence remained high and ultimately a threat to public safety. And this month prison inspectors said the number of violent incidents was virtually unchanged, although drug use had declined.

Mick Pimblett of the Prison Officers Associatio­n, said: “We welcome the airport-style security being introduced a entrance points in prisons.

“However this should not be at the detriment of internal security within prisons.”

“The discovery of these weapons at Swaleside clearly shows that prisoners are able to manufactur­e weapons unchalleng­ed and this should not be the case.”

Action

A Prison Service spokeswoma­n said: “A number of makeshift weapons were discovered during a search at HMP Swaleside, with violence falling considerab­ly since.

“The prison has taken action to make sure there is no repeat.”

A courier firm spokeswoma­n said: “As the Ministry of Justice has confirmed, there is no evidence to suggest that any weapons have been shipped out of the prison.”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? FEARSOME: A 12-inch blade
FEARSOME: A 12-inch blade
 ??  ?? FLARE-UP: Riot at troubled jail
FLARE-UP: Riot at troubled jail
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 ??  ?? CAPTURED: The variety of shanks
CAPTURED: The variety of shanks

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