Drug girl pair will be caged
600 lags ‘in control’ at UK’s 3rd biggest prison... 1,000 in lockdown They take pics of stolen keys & helmets on smuggled phones
A MUM and her ex-partner will be jailed for giving drugs to her four-year-old girl.
Michala Pyke, 37, and dealer John Rytting, 40, were found guilty of child cruelty towards Poppy Widdison.
She died in 2013 from a cardiac arrest at Rytting’s home in Grimsby, Lincs, after having taken heroin, methadone and ketamine in the previous six months.
At Hull crown court, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, who is set to sentence the pair next year, said: “These crimes will attract a substantial prison sentence.”
GRINNING inmates posed for selfies in stolen riot helmets as the worst prison violence in 20 years erupted yesterday.
More than 600 went on the rampage, taking control of four wings at HMP Birmingham – which is privately run by G4S, who bungled the 2012 London Olympics security contract.
Prisoners were “gasping for breath and screaming for help” as smoke filled corridors and cells, according to frantic relatives.
Convicts lit fires and smashed up the category B jail after threatening a guard with a used syringe and stealing a set of keys at 9am.
It all kicked off after they had gone without TV, showers or exercise for days, said sources.
Guards fled to safety as rioters stormed offices, burning paperwork and throwing computers out of windows.
One inmate suffered a slash wound but jail bosses said all guards at the 1,450-capacity site in Winson Green had been accounted for.
Prison expert Alex Cavendish said the riot was “probably the most serious in a B category prison since Strangeways in 1990”.
A specialist “Tornado Team” was sent in but after several hours trouble flared on two more wings, despite 1,000 lags being in lockdown.
Water was switched back on last night as inmates were encouraged to put out blazes themselves, as authorities said it was too dangerous for fire crews to enter the jail.
The sister of an inmate said: “My brother’s screaming for help. The smoke is that thick he can’t breathe.” And a prisoner said, via a relative: “Everyone went mad. They’ve had enough. It’s a dangerous place now. People are carrying knives. G4S have no control.”
Another Birmingham inmate said often just two guards were in charge of 160 prisoners.
Mike Rolfe, of the Prison Officers Association, said the incident showed that the service was in “crisis”. The HMP Birmingham riot was the third disturbance in less than two months.
HMP Lewes erupted in East Sussex in October, followed by Bedford Prison days later.
The Ministry of Justice said last night: “The perimeter is secure and there’s no public risk.”
Told of the jails crisis recently, Justice Secretary Liz Truss promised 2,500 new officers.
G4S was the first private firm to run a state prison in 2011, when it won the contract for Birmingham, England’s third largest jail.
It had to pay £88million compensation after failing to provide enough security at the 2012 Olympics, when the Army was drafted in.