HMP U-TURN
Jailbird wins Category status battle
JAILBIRD John Henry Sayers has won his fight against his ‘high-risk’ prisoner status.
The notorious hardman has now been downgraded from a category A prisoner to a category B, meaning he will enjoy more relaxed conditions in jail.
Sayers was jailed for three-and-ahalf years in September after an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of perverting the course of justice in relation to the 2015 drive-by shooting outside Newcastle’s Tup Tup Palace nightclub.
He was cleared of masterminding the attack, which left doorman Matthew McCauley seriously injured.
The Chronicle revealed last month how the 55-year-old was being held at the high-security HMP Full Sutton, in Yorkshire, where he was graded as a category A prisoner, meaning he was deemed ‘high-risk’ to the public.
His lawyer, Richard Haswell argued Sayers was being treated differently to other inmates convicted of similar offences.
And following a categorisation hearing at the prison on Wednesday, Sayers was downgraded to a category B inmate.
It means he will have more freedom over who visits him in jail, and visits will no longer be closely monitored by prison officers.
His new category status also means home visits and day release could be possibile sometime in the future.
Mr Haswell said this is the first time in 27 years Sayers has been held as anything other than a category A prisoner.
And he said his client was delighted by the move.
He said: “He’s very happy at getting some justice. It’s a massive victory for Mr Sayers, as the Prison Service have now used common sense. This will be a totally different environment for him. None of his older children have ever seen him in anything other than a category A conditions and he was very restricted before in who could visit him.
“It will make things much easier for him over Christmas as he’s now a normal prisoner.
“He’s relieved at being treated as a normal prisoner now, not as some sort of monster.
“All he is looking forward to is seeing his family.”
The Chroncile revealed last month how Sayers’s application to leave prison to attend his sister Joanne’s funeral in Newcastle was refused after a risk assessment.
Doorman Mr McCauley was seriously injured when he was shot outside Tup Tup Palace in 2015.
Prosecutors claimed Sayers sent Michael Dixon to shoot at the club as an act of revenge after his son, John Jnr, was thrown out and punched by door staff two weeks earlier.
But the jury found Sayers not guilty of conspiracy to murder, and conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Dixon, 50, was cleared of conspir-
acy to murder but found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.
He has now applied to appeal his conviction and life sentence.
Sayers was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, along with convicted murderer Michael McDougall.
The court heard McDougall, who is serving a life sentence for killing South Shields takeaway boss Tipu Sultan, made a false confession to the Tup Tup shooting after meeting Sayers while he was on remand in HMP Wakefield.
The Chronicle has seen correspondence between HM Prison and Probation Service and Sayers and his legal team.
A letter from the service’s category A team explained how all newly sentenced category A prisoners routinely have their security categorisation and escape risk reviewed following conviction and sentencing.
It stated that following Sayers’s first review it was decided he should provisionally remain a category A, high risk, prisoner.
The letter described Sayers as, “the figurehead of organised crime in the Tyneside area”, and said he has, “access to considerable funds, firearms and international contacts”.
It added: “Due to ongoing concerns, Mr Sayers continues to attract a firearms escort whenever he leaves the prison, therefore his security category and escape risk classification remains appropriate at this time.”
However, when his formal categorisation review was carried out he was dropped to a category B.