A crackdown on prisoners using mobile phones has been promised after the Northern Echo revealed a teenage killer recorded a rap video in his cell before posting it on social media.
Attorney General Victoria Prentis commended the newspaper for raising the issue as part our ongoing knife crime campaign after it was raised in the House of Commons by Sedgefield MP Paul Howell on Thursday morning.
Calum Maddison, 17, who fatally stabbed Jack Woodley, from Newton Aycliffe, is believed to be the masked rapper claiming to be a ‘gangster’ in a tasteless video released on TikTok.
Mr Howell said: “My constituent, Zoey McGill, suffered appallingly from knife crime when her son was killed in 2021.
“She is now suffering again because one of the perpetrators is using social media from custody to glorify himself.
“Would the Attorney General agree with me that actions like these should be prosecuted, consequences should be published, and they should become a deterrent against others glorifying themselves from our prison?”
Maddison was jailed for life in August 2022 with nine other teenagers who attacked 18-year-old Jack as he left the fun fair at the Houghton Feast.
It is understood a search of his cell at Wakefield Young Offenders’ Institute has been carried out but no phone has been found.
Responding to Mr Howell, Ms Prentis said: “The honourable gentleman highlights a truly horrific case.
“This is why it’s so important that we crack down on mobile phone use and indeed mobile phone existence within prisons.
“The Government, I know, has put in £100million to make sure the prisons now have airport style security to make sure it’s much more difficult for them to get in.
“It is very serious when instances such as this happen and I commend the honourable gentleman for raising it here for his constituent Zoey, and indeed The Northern Echo, who I understand has been campaigning on this issue.”
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The commitment comes after a crooked prison guard from County Durham was jailed for helping an inmate run a drug dealing business behind bars.
Marc Bainbridge, 32, of Fir Terrace, Burnopfield, was paid thousands of pounds to help Michael Foster supply fellow inmates with illicit substances in HMP Northumberland.
Bainbridge, a prison officer since 2016, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and was jailed for 21 months at Newcastle Crown Court.
Zoey McGill, 37, who thanked Mr Howell for raising the issue in Parliament, said: “This sort of thing is exactly why Calum Maddison was able to rap in his cell with a phone.
“And what reassurance does that give you in our justice system that they cannot find that mobile phone.
“They know it has happened because it is there taking the video."
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Zoey added: “They need to do more. They should lock them all down until that phone turns up.
“They need to get a grip.”
The Ministry of Justice has said it will not comment on individual cases.
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