Scandal from abuse
VICTIMS OF HORRORS AT NOTORIOUS DETENTION CENTRE SLAM DECISION
duct in a public office, in relation to their time at Medomsley.
Onslow was also convicted of three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), one of inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) and one offence of wounding with intent to cause GBH, and was jailed for eight and a half years.
McGee was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and jailed for two years and 10 months.
Blakely was jailed for two years and nine months, Greenwell for two and a half years and Bramley was locked-up for 18 months. All five have submitted appeals against their convictions.
Following the criminal trials, the Chronicle teamed-up with Ben Hoare Bell and the Student Law Office at Northumbria University to campaign for a full open inquiry into the physical and sexual abuse suffered by inmates at Medomsley.
Solicitors at Ben Hoare Bell, which represents more than 400 former inmates, sent a 16-page letter to then Home Secretary Sajid Javid explaining why they believe an inquiry is necessary, in April.
A copy of the letter was also sent to Prof Jay outlining why the solicitors believe IICSA should also look at the sexual abuse of inmates over the age of 18, not just children. However, Mr Javid is yet to respond. Mr Hall continued: “Child sexual abuse at Medomsley was occurring alongside sexual abuse of young men, aged 18 to 21, and serious physical abuse of detainees of all ages. We have argued that the inquiry must investigate all of the abuse. This is both for the sake of fairness to all victims and in order to properly understand how child sexual abuse could have taken place.
“We are disappointed that the then Home Secretary failed to even properly acknowledge our letter, let alone respond to it. We disagree with the IICSA provisional decision to end their inquiry without first making representations to the Home Secretary that a full public inquiry must take place or in some other way to find a solution to the problem. This will result in an even worse situation in which no inquiry is planned into the worst scandal of abuse in prison in the country’s history.
“There are a considerable number of victims who are willing to give evidence of their experiences which include not only their treatment but also the failure of other public bodies to protect them or to investigate and prosecute offenders for a very long period of time.
“We call on IICSA and the Home Secretary to communicate with the victims and other stakeholders and provide a full inquiry that can do justice to more than 1,000 victims and help our society avoid such scandals in future.”
Prof Jay indicated that Medomsley Detention Centre would be included in the CICI investigation, in November 2017. But in 2017, she decided that in light of ongoing criminal prosecutions regarding Medomsley, the CICI investigation would instead focus on more recent issues in custodial institutions.
A statement from IICSA said: “Whilst this case study meets most of the inquiry’s criteria for selecting institutions suitable for investigation, there are limits to the ability of this inquiry to fully investigate events at Medomsley and it is the chair’s provisional view that it is neither proportionate nor necessary to continue with this investigation.”