McNamee awarded damages
Miscarriage of justice victim Danny McNamee has been awarded £5,000 compensation for the brutality he suffered at the hands of prison officers following an escape at Whitemmor Prison in 1994.
Danny McNamee was among a group of six men who broke out of Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire six years ago. In December 1998, after years of campaigning, he was finally cleared of any involvement in the 1982 London Hyde Park bombing.
When recaptured after the escape attenmpt, the prisoners were beaten with batons, punched and kicked. McNamee needed stitches for a serious head wound. Prison officers also used staves during the attack. McNamee was beaten to the ground and handcuffed while he was kicked in the ribs, head and other parts of the body. The London High Court judge said the wounds sustained were supported by medical evidence. He also branded as ``inexcusable'' the failure to get urgent medical attention. Another prisoner who participated in the escape, Andrew Russell, was awarded £2,500. A similar case brought by former POW Liam Cotter was dismissed. The case, which was brought with legal aid, is likely to cost the British taxpayer over £500,000.
Hours later, the director general of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, attempted to argue that the treatment the prisoners was not widespread and was the work of a few.
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