UK NEWS

VAN DRIVES 120 MILES TO MOVE A PRISONER 200 YARDS

EXPENSIVE TRIP: A prison van protected human rights

Friday June 6,2008

By Martin Evans

A SECURITY van was sent on a 120-mile round trip to move a prisoner 200 yards between courts.

Police said the journey was to avoid taking him through the streets in handcuffs – and thus breaching his human rights.

Local Tory MP Brian Binley said: “I’ve never heard such nonsense. Quite frankly I don’t care about his human rights in this situation and I’m sure he wouldn’t have either. To get a matter like this mixed up with human rights is nonsense.”

Labour MP Sally Keeble said: “This seems to me like a complete waste of public money and a breakdown of common sense.”

Mrs Keeble said she would raise the issue with the Ministry of Justice, police and Home Office to prevent future blunders. She added: “Surely they would have been able to get a police escort to walk him across the road or a squad car to pick him up. The police station is next door to the magistrates.”

The “dilemma” arose when Mark Bailey, 35, appeared at Northampton Crown Court to answer theft charges. After a short hearing, he was told to report to the magistrates across the road.

Rather than walking, a vehicle was dispatched from Cambridge almost 60 miles away.

Security firm Global Solutions claims it was fulfilling its contractual obligations and following national guidelines which say that walking a prisoner through a public area could place people in danger and breach the prisoner’s human rights.

GSL spokesman John Bates said the company acted correctly on information given to it by the courts at that time.

He said: “It would have cost the taxpayer more to take the defendant back to prison to have him appear at magistrates court on another day. It is more efficient to deal with somebody in one day.”

The van took almost three hours to arrive and after a short hearing, Bailey was remanded in custody.

A source at the court said: “The transport of prisoners to court is ludicrous and a joke.”

A police spokesman explained: “Northamptonshire Police are not responsible for transporting prisoners once they enter the courts system. This is the responsibility of a private company.

“Obviously, until someone has been convicted of an offence they are innocent in the eyes of the law and it would therefore be inappropriate for them to be escorted across a very busy main road in handcuffs in full view of the public.

“Clearly, it would not be appropriate for prisoners to walk in a public area while in custody for many reasons, including public safety issues as well as the safety of the prisoner.

“Walking them across a busy road opens up the possibility of escape as well as injury.”

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “If anyone had shown a bit of initiative this could have been sorted out in five minutes.”