An inmate who slept with prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu was reportedly brutally attacked behind bars – all while holding his three-month-old baby.
Burglar Linton Weirich went viral last year for the prison romp, which saw Abreu being sentenced to 15 months in jail.
Weirich was moved from HMP Wandsworth to HMP Swaleside after the incident andit was inside this prison in Kent where he was reportedly assaulted by another inmate. He then fell on his baby – leaving her with a fractured skull.
Police are currently investigating and no arrests have yet been made, although a suspect has been identified. The grim incident happened on December 18 and below we look inside the prison home to other violent assaults.
HMP Swaleside
The category B training prison on the Isle of Sheppey was home to 939 prisoners last year – many being lifers or inmates serving over four years.
An aerial view of HM Prison Swaleside where some inmates start their life sentences
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It opened back in 1988 and road-rage murderer Kenneth Noye is one of the most infamous names to have stayed there.
An HMP Inspectorate of Prisons report last year found an increase in self-harm and violence. It also found serious assaults (on staff in particular) was a “continuing cause for concern”.
Drones were also being used to smuggle contraband and the report stated: “Over the last year drones delivering drugs and other illicit items had become a major problem that clearly impacted almost all the concerns reviewed at this visit.”
In the August 2024 report, it was also revealed how 14 inmates had died in the previous two years, and this included seven self-inflicted deaths.
Key problems were “inconsistent support for prisoners at risk, a failure by some night staff to carry anti-ligature knives, slow responses to cell bells and inadequate reviews of Coroners’ and PPO recommendations”.
Concerns were also raised about a supervision cell on wing G where there was a “filthy toilet” and damage to the bed and flooring – resulting in a conclusion that it was ultimately “unsuitable for anybody in crisis”.
The scene at HMP Swaleside in December 2016 when up to 60 inmates took control of a wing
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HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor added: “There was compelling evidence that staff did not always complete the required checks on prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm and we were not confident that records we examined were accurate.”
‘Killing officers’
A trial is currently taking place involving Aklakar Rahman, who is already behind bars for attempted murder.
But it is also alleged the “highly dangerous” individual attempted to kill five guards in a number of attacks inside HMP Swaleside and also HMP Belmarsh.
Prosecutor Alistair Richardson told the Old Bailey: “[Rahman] wants to kill prison officers who he sees as ‘kuffar’, a derogatory term for non-Muslims.”
The court heard how Rahman was moved to a segregation unit inside Swaleside in September 2022 after trying to radicalise inmates to “extreme versions of Islam”.
Aklakar Rahman wanted to be the first inamte to kill an officer, the court was told
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He has been accused of punching an officer in the face while being taken to the shower before stabbing another guard with a pen. The convict is also alleged to have punched a third in the stomach and stamping on the foot of a fourth.
Rahman allegedly tried to stab another officer the following day after being found naked while holding a piece of sharpened plastic.
He was then moved to Belmarsh where more attempted murder charges were brought against him. Rahman denies the charges against him and his trial continues.
Murder inside HMP Swaleside
The prison population was in a state of shock ten years ago when an inmate was found dead inside his cell.
The victim suffered fatal stab wounds in March 2015, with a source saying: “There was a death on H wing, it is the wing with inmates with personality disorders and the like.
“The death is been treated as murder and some staff didn’t leave the site until after midnight last night.”
It came months after a prison officer was slashed across the face with a blade during a riot. At the time, director of campaigns at The Howard League for Penal Reform, Andrew Neilson, called it a “very unsafe prison”.
Riots
Specialist “Tornado” teams had to rush to HMP Swaleside in December 2016 when 60 inmates reportedly took control of a wing.
Inmates supposedly managed to take over Wing A where the Open Academy study centre with a computer suite is held, while the rest of the jail was put on lockdown.
Prison Officers Association chairman Mike Rolfe said fires had been started and added the jail was a “particularly difficult place to work”.
He added: “Staff recruitment and retention there has been poor. In the last few years they’ve lost lots of experienced staff and new recruits haven’t wanted to stick the job out due to the toxic nature of the job.”
The Prison Service confirmed the misbehaving inmates “surrendered and were back in cells by 1am” following the disturbance that started at around 7pm. No injuries were reported from the unrest.
Ministry of Justice
After the inspection last year where drones bringing drugs into the prison was exposed, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and our security measures, such as X-ray body scanners and anti-drone no-fly zones, stop drugs and mobile phones from entering our prisons.”
Despite the concerns, the report said there had been “effective” officer recruitment and management had put in place “good support” for staff members.
Despite this, many “lacked the confidence and skill” to deal with how some prisoners behaved.