Latest news with #HMPBelmarsh
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Palestine protest outside as activists due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court
Palestine Action activists are outside Woolwich Crown Court as 18 members of a protest group are due to appear in the court. Last week home secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to ban the group – making membership or support for it a terror offence which could carry up to 14 years in prison. On Monday, June 30, members of the group gathered outside the gates of Woolwich Crown Court, next to HMP Belmarsh. The activist are showing support for 18 individuals accused of storming an Israeli defence firm's UK base with a re-purposed prison van, in an alleged plan to cause £1 million of criminal damage. Chants and a drum beat can be heard from inside the court. READ MORE: A strong Met Police presence is on the roads surrounding the court. Palestine Action said on Twitter: 'Whilst the Home Secretary lays down an order to start the process of proscription, we will be protesting outside Woolwich Crown Court in solidarity with the #Filton18. 'The eighteen are remanded in prison under counterterrorism powers for destroying Israeli weapons.'
The Sun
24-06-2025
- The Sun
Dark secrets of ‘UK's Guantanamo Bay' where murderers are punished with trips to ‘The Box' & no inmate has EVER escaped
SOME call it the UK's Guantanamo Bay, others know it simply as Hellmarsh. With a level of security second to none, no prisoner has ever successfully escaped from HMP Belmarsh, but now its most chilling secrets can be revealed - from secret hellhole punishment cells to inmates' brutal games. 9 9 Through accounts of daily routines, brutal fights, gang warfare, drug smuggling and moments of unexpected redemption, my new book uncovers the truth about life inside Hellmarsh. A former inmate told fellow author Emma French and I: 'HMP Belmarsh is a brutal place, and every movement around the jail is along long internal walkways. Every move you make is monitored. 'It is run by staff who set examples to instill fear into you. They have a saying: 'Treat them as you expect to be treated.' 'If you keep your head down, you will be left alone, but if you are rude then they will target you. 'The Ministry of Justice will of course never admit their prison is run on intimidation with a hard line, but it is. 'To be fair to them, as much as I personally am not a fan of Belmarsh, given the serious nature of some of the offenders' offences, I guess it has to be run in a firm and brutal fashion to keep good order and discipline.' Belmarsh, in south east London, is the only prison in England and Wales with a 'prison within a prison', otherwise known as the High-Security Unit (HSU). Surrounded by 20-foot-high concrete walls and monitored by 96 cameras, it's designed to house some of the most dangerous criminals in the country. While Belmarsh can hold up to 910 men, just 48 can be confined within the HSU at any given time. The prison also contains a segregation unit and two notorious cells known as The Boxes. These are bleak, windowless isolation rooms with no beds, sinks or toilets. Over the years, the HSU has held a chilling mix of IRA bombers, KGB spies, al-Qaeda terrorists and even Charles Bronson, whose violent reputation earned him his own private wing. Yet, despite its Category A prisoners, Belmarsh also functions as a standard prison. Around one in five inmates is a convicted murderer, yet many others serve time for lesser offences. How do staff balance handling petty criminals alongside serial rapists, terrorists and gang leaders? And what happens when such high-risk individuals are forced to coexist? As one former Belmarsh inmate put it: 'Over the years, you can be sure that with all the high-profile cases heard at the Central Criminal Court or Woolwich Crown Court, the offenders were detained at HMP Belmarsh. 'Some of whom I have personally met: Mark Dixie (The Sally Anne Bowman case), Steve Wright (The Suffolk Strangler), Stuart Hazell (The Tia Sharp murder in Croydon), Barry George (The Jill Dando case), John Worboys (The Black Cab Rapist). 'Also Wayne Couzens (The Sarah Everard case), Steven Barker (The Baby P case), John Duffy (the 1980s railway killer), Kenny Noye, Ian Huntley (The Soham Murders), and Lea Rusha, Roger Coutts, Stuart Royle, Ermir Hysenaj, and Jetmir Bucpapa, who all pulled the largest cash robbery in UK history – the Securitas robbery in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2006.' His list didn't end there, either: ' Terrorists, the London bombers, The Hatton Garden Job crew. 'Many high-profile cases over the years have had the pleasure of experiencing the harsh regime at HMP Belmarsh.' 9 9 'Many were completely messed up' Former Conservative Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken served time in Belmarsh after being convicted of perjury and became something of confidante to many lags. What really struck Jonathan was their vulnerability. He explained: 'Many were completely messed up. One guy, I found out, should have been released already, but nobody had told him. 'All the time, I felt like I was on the funny farm, yet at the same time, people confided in me. ''Do you think my wife will ever let me back?' or 'How will I ever lift up my head again?' 'I was a middle-class bloke, and there was a lot of agony-aunting. But I did feel I was being of some use.' A prisoner officer warned the ex MP he was to be moved, saying, 'Aitken, you're going to Beirut.' Another inmate warned: 'Oh, don't go to Beirut. That's where the real hard men are. If you get on the wrong side of them, they'll crush your balls, mate.' Aitken added: 'I had no idea what he meant. Eventually, I learned Beirut was just B Wing. 'That night, I heard a ritual called 'doing a quizzy'. Inmates shouted questions across the wing. "Sometimes they were crude. 'Who'd like to s**g Officer S?' 9 9 'Sometimes they were coded messages. 'Remember to tell the court the car was green.' 'But that night, it was about me. 'What are we gonna do to him?' 'Let's eat his balls!' 'Let's give him a good kicking!' 'It was nasty. They were high on drugs, but it was still terrifying. The threats felt real, and I took them seriously. 'I have never felt more lonely, frightened or vulnerable. I knelt and tried to say a prayer, but I was too scared." Prison jobs for monsters 9 Some prisoners are allowed to work at Belmarsh. Ex prisoner Mike observed that in his experience, some of the best prison jobs went to the worst people. He revealed: 'The honour killing. The guy who put his daughter in a suitcase. He made tea for the prison officers at Belmarsh. Some multiple murderers, horrible human beings, get privileges like that.' He's talking about the case of Mahmod Mahmod, who orchestrated the murder of his own daughter with accomplices including her uncle. Mike recalled another depraved murderer having a degree of responsibility in Belmarsh, too. He said: 'The Colindale killer has a funny eye. He had a job giving out milk. He killed a woman on an allotment because he wanted to run the allotment.' Mike is referring to Rahim Mohammadi, who strangled 80-year-old widow Lea Adri-Soejoko with a lawnmower cable in February 2017 at an allotments plot in London. I have never felt more lonely, frightened or vulnerable. I knelt and tried to say a prayer, but I was too scared. Jonathan Aitken One ex-inmate of several prisons described the exercise yard at Belmarsh as "small and secure, nowhere near the boundary fence. 'No spur (wing) mixes with another spur on exercise. The surrounding fence and wall are huge with razor wire running around the top, CCTV watching your every move. 'If you stop and bend down to pick something up off the floor you are challenged there and then. 'This is even after the exercise yard was previously checked and searched by staff prior to the inmates even going out on the yard. 'I guess a testament to their paranoid security measures. There are posters on the walls throughout the prison warning staff. They state, 'Believe nothing, check everything, keep calm and carry on.'' Former officer Nik said of the meals served up: 'The food was grim. But sometimes we ate it. Some of the curries were actually okay.'
The Sun
16-06-2025
- The Sun
Teen lag hurls boiling water at prison guard in suspected terror attack ‘inspired by Southport monster Axel Rudakubana'
A LAG hurled scalding water at a guard in a suspected terror attack inspired by Axel Rudakubana, it is believed. The Islamist teenager boiled water in his in-cell kettle and mixed it with sugar before throwing it at the officer as he delivered breakfast. 2 2 Triple child killer Rudakubana, 18, chucked kettle-boiled water at a guard at London's high-security HMP Belmarsh in May, as revealed by The Sun. The latest incident, on Saturday at Wetherby Young Offender Institution in West Yorkshire, saw the guard treated in hospital. A colleague also suffered minor injuries. A source said: 'Why on earth did this high-risk prisoner have a kettle in his cell? 'They may as well have given him a gun or a knife. 'Everyone believes it was a copycat of what Rudakubana did as the method is the same and, in a warped way, would have been inspired by him. 'Tests have shown the water was mixed with sugar — so the evil little scrote was trying to cause maximum damage.' Counter Terrorism Policing North East said it was investigating the incident. The Youth Custody Service confirmed two staff members were hurt, one of them receiving treatment in hospital.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Yahoo
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana receiving minimum legal entitlements while in prison
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana is currently receiving the legal minimum while serving 52 years at HMP Belmarsh, the ECHO has learned. The teenage killer horrifically killed three children in Southport on July 29 last year when he walked into a Taylor Swift-themed workshop shortly before midday. The then-17-year-old stabbed 11 children, killing three girls and injuring the rest, as well as attacking two adults in the rampage. Following his arrest at the scene, ricin was found in his bedroom at his family home in Banks, Lancashire, as well as a plethora of weapons and a second identical knife to that he used in the attack wrapped in his duvet. It further transpired how the murderer had previously been reported to Prevent on three occasions as well as being stopped by his own dad from getting in a taxi destined for Range High School just seven days prior to the attack on Hart Street, Southport. READ MORE: Mum in tears as 'TikTok addiction' means she's going to prison READ MORE: Dad took a knife to a 'straightener' in row over kids' football He was sentenced to life imprisonment in January this year, with him being kept in HMP Belmarsh, a high-security category A facility. But since being locked up, the killer has allegedly attacked a prison officer, hospitalising him and forcing him to take time off work. Rudakabana was in his prison cell at the time of the attack, and allegedly used boiling water from a kettle in the room, as reported by Sky News. He then allegedly threw the boiling water over the officer through a hatch in his cell door. The prison officer was taken to hospital as a precaution but only suffered minor injuries. Since then, Rudakubana has been given the legal minimum entitlements a prisoner can have, which restricts the amount of time he spends outside his cell and what he has access to. It is understood the legal minimum means he can still purchase items from the canteen using money either earnt at the prison or sent to him by family members but spends limited time outside of his cell and is brought items to where he is staying. National chair of the Prison Officers Association, Mark Fairhurst, told the ECHO: "It is normal for every prisoner to have access to prison canteen items that they may purchase from private cash or prison earnings. "Restricting this would probably lead to a legal challenge under the human rights act so the service would not be able to remove these privileges from prisoners." A Met Police spokesperson told the ECHO: "The Met is investigating after a prison officer was subject to a serious assault at HMP Belmarsh on the afternoon of Thursday, 8 May. "The prison officer was taken to hospital where he was assessed before being discharged later the same day. "The investigation is being led by officers from the Prison Investigation Team on the Met's South East Command Unit."
STV News
06-06-2025
- Politics
- STV News
Trial date set for three men charged over fires at Keir Starmer properties
A trial date has been set for three men charged in connection with arson attacks on two properties and a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer. Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, appeared together at the Old Bailey on Friday. Ukrainian national Petro Pochynok, 34, refused to attend the hearing. Two of the fires took place in Kentish Town, north London – one in the early hours of May 12 at the home where Sir Keir lived before he became Prime Minister and moved into Downing Street. The entrance to Sir Keir Starmer's house in Kentish Town. / Credit: James Manning/PA A car was set alight in the same street four days earlier on May 8. The other fire was on May 11 at the front door of a house converted into flats in Islington. Lavrynovych, of Lewisham, south-east London, has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life on May 8, May 11 and May 12. Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, and Pochynok, of Islington, north London, are each accused of one count of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life between April 17 and May 13. Lavrynovych and Carpiuc appeared at the hearing via videolink from HMP Belmarsh, and spoke only to confirm their identities and dates of birth via an interpreter. Ms Justice Cheema Grubb told the court that Pochynok had refused to leave his cell for the preliminary hearing. All three defendants were remanded in custody to next appear for a plea and trial preparation hearing at the same court on October 17. A provisional trial date was set for April 27 next year in front of a High Court judge. A fourth person, a 48-year-old man, was arrested by police at Stansted Airport on Monday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life in connection with the incidents. The Metropolitan Police said he had been released on bail until next month. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
