Kidnapper found with phone in his cell at open prison
A KIDNAPPER who was jailed for being part of a ruthless gang of drug enforcers has now been found with a mobile phone in his cell at a Derbyshire jail.
Derby Crown Court heard how Damien Yates was at HMP Sudbury earlier this year as the custodial element to his nine-and-a-half year prison term was coming to an end.
The 34-year-old’s sentencing hearing was told how officers found the device hidden in a wardrobe.
The court was told how initially the prison dealt with the matter internally, handing Yates 21 days’ confinement and removing privileges for 42 days.
But now the matter has been heard in court eight months after the incident.
Handing Yates a six-month prison term, suspended for two years, Recorder Nicholas Bacon QC said: “This is a serious matter but I have read your explanation in your letter which tells me how you had the phone over contact issues as you were concerned your son might feel you were no longer interested in being his father.
“This suspended sentence is now hanging over you.”
Gregor Purcell, prosecuting, said officers discovered the mobile in a cell Yates shared with another prisoner, and who he said earlier this year at the same court was handed the same punishment.
He said the phone was plugged
into the mains and hidden in the back of a wardrobe.
Yates, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to possessing a mobile phone in prison.
Andrew McInnes, mitigating, said his client was concerned about lack of contact with his son while inside HMP Sudbury due to the Covid pandemic.
In 2017, the defendant was part of a gang jailed for a combined total of 57 years. The four thugs armed themselves and drove from Liverpool to Morecambe and Lancaster to embark on a shocking afternoon of violence.
They burst into a flat and attacked their first victim with a steering lock before slashing his face and head with a Stanley blade when he tried to escape.
Thirty minutes later the gang was on the streets of Lancaster, where they bundled a second victim into a car on Moor Lane in front of shocked onlookers.
Yates, then 29 and of Kirkby, Liverpool, was jailed for nine and a half years for unlawful wounding and kidnap.
Following the sentencing four years ago, Detective Inspector Mark Dickinson, of Lancashire Police, said: “These attacks were carried out in broad daylight, one in a busy city centre, and displayed extreme violence.
“The impact on both the victims, people who witnessed the incidents and the wider community is significant.”
Your letter tells me you ...were concerned your son might feel you were no longer interested in being his father.
Recorder Nicholas Bacon QC