Prison officer’s payout after horrific killing Stranded minke whale rescued
A PRISON officer who was left “haunted” after seeing a paedophile disembowelled in a cell at HMP Frankland, Durham, has been awarded a £125,000 payout.
Alan Johnson, 59, was diagnosed with PTSD after witnessing the horrific aftermath of the murder of paedophile Mitchell Harrison, 23, at the Brasside prison in October 2011.
Harrison was serving an indeterminate sentence of at least four and a half years after being convicted in 2010 of raping a 13-year-old girl whom he lured back to his flat in Kendal, Cumbria.
Harrison’s neck had been cut with a plastic scalpel and his stomach had been opened by lifers
Michael Parr, 32, and Nathan Mann, 23.
The officer at the Durham prison suffered from flashbacks, anxiety, lost sleep and depression following the incident.
Employment Judge Garnon ruled Prison Service governors, line managers and HR had, “written him off because that was the easiest option for them”, the Mirror Online reports.
At a North Shields tribunal, Mr Johnson won a claim for harassment while trying to return to work, with a payout to be announced.
His earlier civil claim against the Prison Service resulted in the £125,000 settlement.
When contacted after the ruling, Mr Johnson declined to comment.
Following Harrison’s murder, several members of staff at Frankland were given time off to recover from the psychological trauma.
Speaking in 2013 Tom Robson, vice chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “I am aware that prison officers have been granted time off following the incident at Frankland.
“Clearly, it has been a time for staff.
“Unfortunately, prison officers at high security jails like Frankland are subject to trauma on a daily basis.
“What the public don’t know is that prisoners often try to commit suicide or self-harm. Prison officers regularly save the life of these prisoners, which is in itself a traumatic experience.
“So we not only protect the prisoners, but we have to protect ourselves as well. Prison officers are always in the firing line.
“Prison officers deal with these people on a daily basis and we don’t get a second thought from the public because everything we do is behind closed doors. It really is an impossible job.”
horrific
RESCUE teams descended on Hartlepool’s coast after a minke whale became stranded.
The whale became stranded at Fish Sands at around 1pm yesterday, with Hartlepool Coastguard and other teams attempting to free it.
A crowd gathered by the coast to watch the rescue operation which involved the British Divers Marine Life Rescue team and RNLI Lifeguards.
Fortunately, the whale was re-floated and eased back into the deep water by the rescuers before managing to swim back out to sea.
Lucie Poole, who witnessed the rescue, said it was “amazing” once the whale was freed and directed back into the deeper waters.
“The rescue teams lifted the whale out of the water using something called a pontoon”, Lucie, 26, from Saltburn, said.
“They lifted it out to inspect it and see whether or not it needed treatment on shore, but they managed to put it back into the water.
“There was a large crowd and everyone was trying to keep the whale away from the shore, it was amazing to watch.”
She added: “I think the teams wanted to make sure it didn’t swim back into another harbour but it looked as though it swam out to sea.”
After the rescue teams left the area, the heavy rain began which meant most of the onlookers left by 2pm.
Hartlepool Coastguard were also called out on Friday after an injured porpoise washed up on to the beach at Steetley
Pier.
The animal was badly injured by a pod of adult porpoises and had lost a lot of blood, the rescue team said.
The team transported the porpoise to a vet, where it later died.