Prisoners at notorious HMP Belmarsh ‘driven 200 yards to court at a cost of £2million’ because secure tunnel connecting the two is ‘too cold’ to walk through
- Ministry of Justice spent millions of taxpayers’ money over past six years
- Inmates at the prison in south-east London complained tunnel too cold in winter
- The MoJ disputed the claims last night and insisted tunnel was in ‘constant use’
Prisoners are being driven 200 yards from a high-security jail to court because they refuse to use a secure tunnel linking the two, it has been claimed.
The Ministry of Justice has spent millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money over the past six years on prisoner escort vans to complete the two-minute journey.
Inmates at HMP Belmarsh in south-east London are understood to have complained the tunnel is too cold in winter. Others have objected to having to carry their possessions on the short walk to Woolwich Crown Court.
The MoJ disputed the claims last night and insisted the tunnel was in ‘constant use’.
Prisoners are being driven 200 yards from a high-security jail to court because they refuse to use a secure tunnel linking the two, it has been claimed.
The underground route was constructed to transport high-security prisoners between the prison and the court complex next door.
Details obtained from the MoJ under Freedom of Information laws show transport company Serco has been paid for 20,499 secure van journeys between the court and the prison since the start of 2016. While the MoJ refused to disclose the fees paid on commercial grounds, Serco receives a fixed price for each van journey, it is understood. Experts estimate each journey is likely to cost more than £100, meaning the cost over the past six and a-half years is likely to be well over £2 million.
Loading and unloading prisoners on to secure vans also requires a series of lengthy checks, taking hours of staff time. The main gate at Belmarsh is just 180 yards from the secure entrance of the court.
The tunnel, which takes a direct route, is considerably shorter.
The underground route was constructed to transport high-security prisoners between the prison and the court complex next door. Pictured: Woolwich Crown Court
Belmarsh houses some of the UK’s most dangerous terrorists, including Michael Adebolajo, who murdered fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013; Khairi Saadallah, the Libyan refugee who murdered three people in a Reading park in 2020; and Ali Harbi Ali, the killer of MP Sir David Amess.
Most high-security terrorism trials take place at Woolwich, which opened in 1993, because it is considered more secure than the Old Bailey, built in 1902. One senior court source said inmates had complained about the temperature in the tunnel, and the MoJ statistics reveal that van journeys are 30 per cent higher in winter months than they are in the summer.
Figures peaked in 2017, when 4,325 van journeys took place.
An MoJ spokesman said: ‘These claims are entirely false and the tunnel is in constant use.’
Some journeys were taken by newly sentenced prisoners who had to travel by van because they were carrying their possessions, it is understood. The MoJ was unable to provide a breakdown.
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