Latest news with #LongLartin
BBC News
15-06-2025
- BBC News
'Floodgates' opened on Long Lartin prison drones
A former prison officer at a high-security jail where a member of staff was recently stabbed by an inmate, has said the "floodgates" have been opened on the use of drones to smuggle in weapons and drugs. A 25-year-old prison officer was stabbed at Long Martin on 30 May and had to undergo emergency surgery. At the time, a source told the BBC the knife used was "not a prison-made weapon".A former officer at Long Lartin, who we are calling Adam, said the problem had got worse in recent years, with drones coming in "left, right, and centre".In response, the government said it had "inherited a prison system in crisis - overcrowded, with drugs and violence rife", but was addressing the problems. "We are gripping the situation and clamping down on illicit items through X-ray body scanners and restricted fly zones for drones, " a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the extent of drone use had initially come as a surprise."We knew it could happen in city prisons without high funding, like Hewell and Birmingham, but not in high-security prisons," he said. "But the floodgates have opened.""We used to smell a bit of weed at night time - you'd identify the cell and put that person in for a drug test."But it got so bad, you could be walking up the corridors to the wings and it could stink of weed." The former prison officer said inmates would make their own weapons "out of anything", including melting down razor blades or sharpening tooth he said these makeshift weapons were not as dangerous as the knives that were being flown in.A spokesperson for the Prison Officers' Association (POA) told the BBC it had warned governments for some time "about the dangers posed by the use of drones to deliver contraband such as drugs, mobile phones, weapons into jails". "This is unquestionably increasing the risks to staff, and destabilising prisons," they added."Without action, it is only a matter of time until a firearm is delivered to a prison by drone." In a 2023 report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, after an unannounced visit of Long Lartin in December 2022, an inspector said: "The prison had good defences against the ingress of drugs through drones or throwovers."However, by January 2025, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, called for "urgent action" to tackle drones at HMP Long Lartin and HMP Manchester following inspections in September and October 2025 Long Lartin report said: The risks are clear for a jail that has, in effect, ceded the airspace above it to serious organised crime." Fifty per cent of Long Lartin inmates who responded to a survey by the inspectorate also said it was easy to get drugs and alcohol, which the report said "was an astonishing rate for a Category A prison". Attacks on staff The 25-year-old prison officer who was attacked in May is now recovering at home after having emergency surgery, according to a social media post made by his who knows the victim, told the BBC: "He's a good kid - keen and enthusiastic. He's not an idiot, he's not mean and nasty."However, the attack on him is not an isolated incident.A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent by the BBC to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed Long Lartin had 35 incidents over the past five years in which officers missed at least a week of work either following a physical assault or through an injury sustained while restraining an inmate. In 2022 alone, 13 incidents had to be reported by the prison to the HSE. This included an officer suffering burns after a prisoner threw boiling water over them, while another received an inch-deep puncture wound to the neck after visiting a prisoner's another case, an officer was "choked out of consciousness" by a prisoner after responding to an emergency one occasion, Adam said a senior governor had her jaw broken by an attacks took place in 2024, including an officer being knocked out after being punched in the head and kicked by a prisoner while supervising his move to a mentioned a number of factors to the BBC that he believed were making the environment more dangerous to said a full lockdown search of the jail had not been performed since the Covid pandemic, and that inmates could hide weapons in places guards would be unable to find during basic checks due to screwdrivers being flown into the prison - making it easier to hide contraband in furniture. Adam also claimed there were no thorough searches conducted after drones would be seen over the attacks did happen, Adam said there were rarely significant said staff had "very little faith" in the official adjudication process, intended to deal with such incidents involving inmates. 'The job's not worth it' Adam said the situation at Long Lartin had got "worse and worse" over the years, with staff not feeling safe at told the BBC that one governor even said "prisons aren't a place where you're supposed to feel safe" and that they would be surprised if staff at work felt safe. This response was made in reply to concerns about proposals to have just one uniformed officer in workshops with inmates, led by civilians."More and more experienced staff are saying the job's not worth it," Adam MOJ told the BBC: "We take the safety and wellbeing of staff extremely seriously."To further protect our hardworking staff, front-line prison officers working in the highest risk areas will be given protective body armour to keep them safe from harm."They also said the prison service was working with police to deter illegal drone use around prisons, and that they were investing targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, netting and grilles, to stop drones from successfully delivering cargo such as drugs and weapons. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Sun
31-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Inmate who stabbed prison guard revealed as serial knifeman Muslim convert who once said it ‘felt good to hurt someone'
A LAG who stabbed a prison officer using a flick-knife smuggled in by drone is a white Muslim convert who once said it 'felt good to hurt someone'. Callom Taylor, 22 — jailed for a string of stabbings — is often heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar' on the prison wing and carries a prayer mat, sources say. 3 3 He carried out his latest attack just after 8.30am on Friday, stabbing a 25-year-old officer in the stomach. He had to be airlifted from maximum-security Long Lartin jail, near Evesham, Worcs, to hospital for emergency surgery. Two weeks before, the prisons watchdog warned of drones being used to smuggle weapons and drugs into Long Lartin, with the jail's surveillance tech branded obsolete. A source said: 'The drone drops here are out of control. They fly in phones, knives and drugs.' He became even more paranoid and obsessive, constantly going on about people disrespecting him. He carries a prayer mat around and calls out Allahu Akbar. A source Taylor, of Sheffield, has a long history of violence. He was locked up in 2022 for a string of attacks including a three-month 'campaign of violence' in which he stabbed four people and assaulted a fifth with nunchucks. He was given a 23-year extended sentence, with a minimum of 18 years in custody, avoiding a life term due to his age. The judge told him: 'You have escaped a life sentence by the narrowest of margins.' The court heard a psychiatric report revealing Taylor admitted experiencing powerful urges to hurt people for no reason. When asked directly, he 'admitted that, in a way, it felt good to hurt someone else'. Inside evil Southport killer's cushy jail life where he STILL gets Maltesers, crisps & other treats despite guard attack Taylor is said to have converted to Islam behind bars at Long Lartin. Our source said: 'The lad converted a while ago and since then it's like he's become someone else. 'He became even more paranoid and obsessive, constantly going on about people disrespecting him. 'He carries a prayer mat around and calls out Allahu Akbar.' Taylor is now believed to have been transferred to the separation unit at top-security Belmarsh jail. West Mercia Police said the attack was not being treated as terror- related, but as a 'disagreement'. It comes after Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana threw boiling water over a warder at Belmarsh last month, and Manchester bomb plotter Hashem Abedi stabbed and burned four officers with cooking oil at Frankland prison in April. Jenrick: Give officers guns PRISON officers should be armed with lethal weapons to combat Islamist gangs, Robert Jenrick claims. The Shadow Justice Secretary said specialist teams in maximum security jails must have access to guns in exceptional circumstances as well as Tasers and stun grenades. It follows a spate of attacks on officers and Islamist gangs controlling prison wings across the UK. Jenrick said: 'Islamist gangs and violent prisoners are out of control. It's a national security emergency.' A Ministry of Justice source said: 'We are building new prisons and take a zero-tolerance approach to violence and extremism inside.'
Sky News
31-05-2025
- General
- Sky News
Prison officers should be armed with lethal weapons to crack down on Islamist terrorists, Tories say
Prison officers should be armed with lethal weapons to crack down on Islamist terrorists in jail, the shadow justice secretary has said. Highly trained teams should also be equipped with tasers, stun grenades and baton rounds to tackle dangerous criminals in high-security jails, Robert Jenrick said. The plan is taken from a series of recommendations by counter-extremism expert and former prison governor Ian Acheson. It comes after a prison officer at high-security prison Long Lartin in Worcestershire was stabbed on Friday morning with a weapon Sky News understands was brought in from outside the prison. It also follows several attacks on prison officers in jails. In April this year, the Manchester Arena bomb plotter, Hashem Abedi, allegedly assaulted prison staff by throwing hot oil on them and then launching a stabbing attack, injuring three officers. At Belmarsh prison, Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been accused of throwing boiling water over an officer through the hatch in his cell door earlier this month. Mr Jenrick said: "Islamist gangs and violent prisoners in our jails are out of control. It's a national security emergency, but the government is dithering. If they don't act soon, there is a very real risk that a prison officer is kidnapped or murdered in the line of duty, or that a terrorist attack is directed from inside prison." He said he commissioned Mr Acheson to conduct a rapid review into measures the government could adopt. The measures include removing all radical Islamist imams working in prisons, immediately rolling out high-collar stab vests to frontline officers, and mandating the quarterly release of data on religious conversions in prison and faith-based incidents. It also recommended legislating to overturn the De Silva ruling to strip back judicial interference in operational decisions by governors to isolate extremists. Mr Jenrick added: "We have to stop pussy-footing around Islamist extremists and violent offenders in jails. "That means arming specialist prison officer teams with tasers and stun grenades, as well as giving them access to lethal weapons in exceptional circumstances. "If prison governors can't easily keep terrorist influencers and radicalising inmates apart from the mainstream prisoners they target, then we don't control our prisons - they do. We must take back control and restore order by giving officers the powers and protection they need." Mr Acheson said: "Too often what goes wrong behind the walls of our high security jails passes unnoticed, as does the bravery of the men and women in uniform who deal every day with terrorists and other highly dangerous offenders. "Robert Jenrick is right - the threat to officer safety is now intolerable and must be met decisively by the government. "The balance inside too many of our prisons has shifted away from control by the state to mere containment and the price is soaring levels of staff assaults and wrecked rehabilitation. Broken officers can't help fix broken people - or protect the public from violent extremism." A Ministry of Justice source said: "The government considers the introduction of lethal weapons into prisons would put prison officers at greater risk." They added: "The last government added just 500 cells to our prison estate, and left our jails in total crisis. In 14 years, they closed 1,600 cells in the high-security estate, staff assaults soared, and experienced officers left in droves. Now the arsonists are pretending to be firefighters. "This government is cleaning up the mess the last government left behind. We are building new prisons, with 2,400 new cells opened since we took office. And we take a zero-tolerance approach to violence and extremism inside."
The Sun
30-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Prison guard is stabbed by inmate ‘wielding flick knife delivered by drone' in latest attack at high-security jail
A PRISON officer has been stabbed by an inmate wielding a flick-knife feared to have been delivered to a jail by drone. The con plunged the knife into the guard in a brutal attack and it is said to have "nicked" his liver. 4 4 The officer was air-lifted to hospital, with sources saying he was "lucky to survive". Today, he is being treated and is reportedly "stable" after the shocking attack - the latest in Britain's out-of-control jails. Police are investigating after being called to HMP Long Lartin this morning. A source said: "This is a terrifying and shocking incident and staff are understandably upset. "The poor chap who was stabbed was covered in blood and had to be air-lifted to hospital. "The attack came out of the blue and was early in the morning after the prisoners were unlocked. "It came out of the blue, with no warning - and no apparent motive. "The member of staff is lucky to have survived particularly given where the blade struck him. "It nicked his liver, so it could easily have been a lot worse. "His colleagues raced to his aid and luckily police and ambulance crews got to the prison pretty quickly. "Other members of staff are furious. "They do not feel they are getting the protection the deserve, and they have been warning about drones for ages. "It is a daily occurrence that they are dropping stuff off there - and it is extremely worrying that a flick-knife was delivered. "If that can be dropped off there anything can be. "It is ridiculous - especially at what is meant to be a highly-secure jail. "Prisons are out of control - something needs to be done, and fast." Category A Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire 900 highly-dangerous inmates, including killers and terrorists. Inmates there include 'Suffolk Strangler' Steve Wright, Jordan McSweeney - who murdered Zara Aleena in 2022 - and Joanana Yeates killer Vincent Tabak. The attack comes after Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi stabbed and scalded three guards at HMP Frankland in April - and Southport monster Axel Rudakubana hurled scalding water at a Belmarsh Prison guard on May 8. We told last week how a prison governor suffered a bleed on the brain after an attack at HMP Ranby, Notts. And two weeks ago, the Prison Officer's Association urged action to protect staff 'before there is a fatality' after a spate of further attacks including one which saw a lag slash an officer's throat at HMP Woodhill, Bucks. The union's General Secretary Steve Gillan said: 'Escalating levels of violence are out of control in the prison service in England and Wales. "Prison regimes must be reviewed as a matter of urgency. We need action to protect prison officers before there is a fatality.' The Ministry of Justice has said it is considering the use of tasers and body armour to help staff deal with violent cons. A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: "We were called to HMP Long Lartin in South Littleton around 10am on Friday, May 30, following a report someone had been assaulted by an inmate. "One man was taken to hospital with serious injuries after sustaining a stab wound. The inmate remains within the prison and the investigation is on-going." A Prison Service spokesperson said: 'Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Long Lartin. 'We will not tolerate assaults on hardworking staff and will always push for the strongest punishments against perpetrators." A spokesperson for the West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We were called to reports of a stabbing at a location off near South Littleton, Evesham at 8.39am. "An ambulance, two paramedic officers and the Midlands Air Ambulance from Strensham were sent to the scene. "On arrival, crews found a man who they treated for serious injuries before he was airlifted to hospital for further treatment." 4
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Two arrested after drone spotted above HMP Long Lartin
Two men have been arrested after a drone was seen circling above a device was spotted hovering in the airspace of HMP Long Lartin in South Littleton, Worcestershire, at about 22:30 BST on stopped a car about 20 minutes later and found a drone in the vehicle, West Mercia Police men, aged 19 and 33, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to convey prohibited items into a prison. The older man was also arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs. Both remain in custody while inquiries Ch Insp James Bamber said: "We are continuing to crack down on incursions around HMP Long Lartin and have seized another drone suspected to be used in criminal activity."Six weeks ago, two other men were arrested after a similar incident at the jail, and police said they had intercepted seven other drones and arrested 18 people in the past year. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
