Judge in Huntley attack case criticises prison security
As a prisoner receives a life sentence for attacking Soham murderer Ian Huntley, a judge calls for a review of the way high security prisons are managed.
Damien Fowkes was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years for attempting to murder Huntley, by slashing him with a makeshift knife, and the manslaughter of child killer Colin Hatch. He is already serving a life sentence for armed robbery.
He admitted trying to kill Huntley, pictured here, at Frankland Prison, Durham, in March 2010 and the manslaughter of Hatch at Full Sutton Prison, Yorkshire, in February.
Mr Justice Coulson said: “It is troubling that these two attacks were carried out in two different high-security prisons. Whilst everyone is acutely aware of the costs of monitoring vulnerable and high-risk prisoners, from what I have seen in this case it appears that the management systems currently in place require urgent review.
Officers outside cell
“I am particularly concerned that the killing of Hatch took place with prison officers outside the cell, but apparently powerless to save him. I am also aware that, over the last few days, another prisoner has been killed at HMP Frankland.”
Management systems require urgent review. Mr Justice Coulson
The judge said the “notoriety” of the two victims had not influenced the sentencing.
“Whilst I am aware that the view has been expressed in some parts of the press that the killing of Colin Hatch and the attempted murder of Ian Huntley were somehow lesser offences, deserving lesser sentences because of the crimes that they had themselves committed, such a view is manifestly wrong, both as a matter of common sense and as a matter of law.
“For the avoidance of doubt, can I stress that that would be so whether the Human Rights Act were in force or not.”
Razor on plastic
The court heard earlier that it was Huntley’s “good fortune” the seven inch wound Fowkes inflicted with a razor melted on to a piece of plastic cutlery missed anything vital.
Prosecutors described how Fowkes chased Huntley around the prison healthcare unit with two home-made weapons. At one point, the court heard, Fowkes trapped Huntley in a room, but he managed to escape by throwing a bedside table at Fowkes as a prison officer challenged him.
The attack ended when Huntley shut himself in a servery and more prison officers arrived. He was in hospital for three days and needed 21 stitches.
Is he dead? I hope so. Damien Fowkes
The court heard that Fowkes asked a prison officer: “Is he dead? I hope so.” When he asked if he had killed Huntley and was told he had not, Fowkes said: “I wish I had.”
Huntley, 37, is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, with a minimum tariff of 40 years.
Strangled with ligature
Following the attack at Frankland, Fowkes was moved to Full Sutton, where he killed Hatch by tying him to a bed and strangling him with a ligature made from strips of bed clothes.
Hatch was jailed in 1994 for the sexually motivated murder of seven-year-old Sean Williams in north London, while he was on licence for an attack on another boy.
Fowkes denied murdering Hatch in February this year, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility,which was accepted. Three psychiatrists and two psychologists who examined Fowkes concluded he had a “deep-seated disorder of great severity”.