ILLEGAL drug drops under hours of darkness and prisoners absconding have been making life a misery for some residents living near Thorn Cross Prison at Appleton Thorn.
A recent delivery of drugs and other prohibited items including anabolic steroids was intercepted after being dumped in a garden and is currently part of an ongoing police investigation.
It follows three recent incidents of prisoners, absconding, with two still at large.
The latest incident involved the police helicopter being called out and circling over homes in the village during the early hours, causing alarm and distress.
Thorn Cross is a men’s open prison and young offender institution (YOI) with some prisoners holding down full time jobs in the local community.
One local resident said: “There have been issues ongoing for many years with regular deliveries but things appear to have escalated recently and it has become a living nightmare.
“Some of these packages are just dropped off in local gardens. Imagine what could happen if someone’s children got hold of them.
“The security at the prison, although it has always been open, appears almost none existent. I’ve reached near breaking point and nobody seems to be listening to my concerns.
“I’ve flagged the issues with the prison, the police and my local MP.”
Warrington South MP Andy Carter said: “This simply isn’t acceptable and we need to see a concerted effort from both Cheshire Police and HMPS to tackle these illegal drugs drops into the prison estate.
“It’s a criminal matter, causing misery and worry for people living nearby and there are measure which can and must be taken to catch the people doing this.
“I’ve written to the Justice Secretary who has overall responsibility for prisons to ask for his commitment to addressing this issue and know from speaking to the Governor at Thorn Cross how seriously it’s taken by him and his team.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Thanks to the diligence of a local resident these items were stopped from getting into the wrong hands and referred to police.
“The number of absconds has almost halved over the last 10 years and those who do so face tough consequences, including being returned to closed prison conditions where they may have to serve additional time.”
Thorn Cross Prison opened in 1985, on the site of the former RNAS Stretton (HMS Blackcap) airfield and was initially used as an open prison for Young Offenders and Youth Custody.
Education and training courses offered at the prison include Construction Crafts, Motor Vehicles, Horticulture, Hospitality and Catering and Rail Construction (NVQ Level 2). Thorn Cross has a number of partnerships with national and local employers, offering opportunities for work placements prior to and on release.
2 Comments
I have lived next door to the prison for almost 20 years and do not recognise this exaggerated scare story at all. I can only imagine that the individual complaining, I note it is just “one local resident” quoted out of the whole village, wants someone else to pay for their fence. Otherwise, if they already have a fence what would be gained by leaving drugs in their garden rather than simply tossing them over the actual prison fence? Most of the prisoners are out on day release and work experience, so surely it would be far easier for them to get drugs then? Clearly an overblown sensationalist scare story based on the views of one resident.
As someone who has lived backing on to the prison for over 15 years, our family have had no problems such as those described above. We find the prison good neighbours who are responsive to the community.