Strangeways protest trial
LIFER STAGED 60-HOUR STUNT IN PROTEST AGAINST ‘STAFF SHORTAGES AND INMATES BEING HELD IN THEIR CELLS FOR 23-HOURS-A-DAY’
A STRANGEWAYS prisoner caused £250,000 of damage in a 60-hour rooftop protest after staff shortages led to inmates being kept in cells for ‘23-hours-a-day,’ a court heard.
The total cost to the authorities of convicted murderer Stuart Horner’s stunt could exceed £1m and endangered his own life, jurors in a Manchester crown court trial have been told. Twenty high-security ‘Category A’ prisoners had to be moved from E wing after the 36-year-old took to the roof.
Horner, from Wythenshawe, denies charges of criminal damage and affray.
The court heard that on Sunday, September 13, 2015, Horner was on Manchester prison’s segregation unit after climbing onto netting the week before. He was dressed in the striped blue and yellow uniform of an ‘escape risk’ prisoner, because he had previously tried to escape from HMP Garth before being moved to Manchester. The rooftop protest at Strangeways began after Horner, who is serving a life sentence, had been allowed on to the exercise yard.
While the prison officer supervising him was busy with another inmate, Horner climbed up a fence, the court heard.
Prisoner officer Stephanie McGrath, a trained negotiator, said in court that he told her: “I’m doing it for the lads on E wing and all the prisoners. I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m doing it for all the staff as well – it’s about the conditions, all the bang-up and hardly any staff. I don’t even like heights, it’s just something I’ve got to do.”
The court heard that staffing issues had led to inmates being on ‘lockdown,’ or ‘bang-up,’ which meant they were confined to their cells for 23-hours-a-day.
Over time, Stuart Horner clambered onto netting designed to prevent things being thrown into the jail, and then onto the roof.
Footage played in court appears to show glass panels shattering as Horner hits them with a pole. He could also be seen allegedly peeling metal strips from the roof, sliding down damaged panels and attacking a CCTV camera.
Opening the case, prosecutor Bob Elias said: “Prisoners may bitterly resent changes to their everyday routine, but trashing the prison by breaking glass windows on the roof, causing £250,000 of damage, doesn’t help – it eats into prison budgets.”
Proceeding.