Inmates get extra jail time after violent mutiny

A group of prisoners, some who are serving life sentences for murder, have been given extra jail terms after a violent 10-hour prison mutiny.

Police said eight prisoners at HMP Whitemoor near March, Cambridgeshire, started a rebellion at about 12:00 BST on 7 October 2022.

The group had made furniture barricades and homemade weapons from kettles and table legs after refusing to go back into their cells.

Det Con Emma Purser said the inmates "offered extreme violence towards staff".

One of the eight was Bradley Blundell, 26, who was jailed in January 2019 for a minimum of 22 years for the murder of John Pordage in Essex on 5 August 2017.

He shot the 34-year-old at a petrol station in Great Baddow, near Chelmsford, after someone teasingly referred to Blundell as the "Milkybar Kid".

The prisoners had sprayed oil, shower gel, shampoo and other items on the floor, making the area too slippery to enter.

Police said that a national response team attempted to enter the area at about 20:00, but the group had also created protective headwear to shield them from Pava spray and pyrotechnic flashes.

They then retreated to the cell of one of the group of eight, where they built a further barricade.

At about 22:00 the response team managed to regain control and the prisoners were restrained.

The inmates received the following sentences:

• Dior Diego Jackson, 27, sentenced to one year and nine months on Friday at Cambridge Crown Court after pleading guilty to violent disorder

• Irwin Constable, 25, sentenced to three years and six months on 13 February after being found guilty of participating in a prison mutiny

• Rick Champion Musaba, 30, sentenced to four years on 6 February after being found guilty of participating in a prison mutiny

• Nicholas Bridge, 26, sentenced to three years and six months on 6 February after being found guilty of participating in a prison mutiny

• Korie Hassan, 33, sentenced to three years and four months on 6 February after admitting violent disorder

• Jahliel Rose, 29, sentenced to one year and four months on 6 February after admitting violent disorder

• Troy Muschett-Thomas, 25, was handed one year and six months on 6 February after pleading guilty to violent disorder

• Blundell was sentenced to an extra one year and six months in prison on 6 February, after pleading guilty to violent disorder

Purser added: "The judge noted that it was only because of the professionalism of the officers who went on to the wing and faced the violence that no-one was seriously hurt.

"This investigation was a lot of work over the past three years, with hours of CCTV footage to search through and interviews to carry out all over the country."

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