By Tom Duffy
Liverpool Echo
LIVERPOOL — Prison authorities knew a Liverpool gangster had a mobile phone hidden in his body in Strangeways prison – but failed to have it removed.
Tony Downes later used the phone to help organise his dramatic escape from a prison van bound for Liverpool Crown Court. The ECHO has discovered Downes arrived at HMP Manchester with the mobile device concealed in his body.
Management at the prison were alerted to the phone when Downes failed the “hard chair” test – designed to detect concealed mobiles and other contraband. When Downes sat in the chair the device was flagged up but prison authorities decided to contain the problem by sending him “down the block” to solitary, rather than to a wing where he could mingle with other prisoners.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice told the ECHO that lessons had now been learned following the prison van escape.
Full story: Prison bosses knew Liverpool grenade gangster had hidden phone