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Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


Graham Mumby-Croft
The Strangeways Riot and My Small Part In lt
(Part Two of Three}


In the first part of my memories of the events at Strangeways in

1990 I shared with you some of the things that I had been involved in and how I had found the whole time to be a defining moment is my career in the prison service. As the situation went on for 26 days you will not be surprised to learn that I have enough memories for a further instalment beyond this one. You will recall how it was watching a documentary programme on the Strangeways Riot that sparked me, after all those years to put pen to paper, so to speak, and write down my experiences.

When watching the documentary of the TV I was struck by the part where Pete Hancock was explaining about the negotiations that started with one of the ringleaders, and how this prisoner had been persuaded to come down from the roof to meet with Pete in an office, and that some Young Offenders would also surrender at the same time..

Issue No. 88 Spring 2023
I remember at that time being called to the Hospital wing and briefed that this prisoner was going to be brought down through the wing and into the hospital wing to engage in negotiations. My instructions were to go up to the 4's landing on E Wing and to escort this prisoner down to the hospital, and it was emphasised to me that he was to remain unharmed throughout. At the time I thought this was rather strange, but as I made my way up to the 4's it became clear to me that word had got out to staff what was happening, and there really was quite a hostile atmosphere as I passed by groups of staff.

When I arrived on the 4's I found that the prisoner was having cold feet, as he suspected a trap, and I think that he too could feel the atmosphere amongst the staff. He was eventually convinced to come down by the fact that he knew that I was a Works PO at the prison, but because I did not work on the wings he was persuaded that he could trust me as being neutral.

On our way down to the hospital we had to descend the spiral staircase at the end of the wing. This stairway was encased in steel mesh, but during the course of the rioting had been pierced several times by scaffolding poles thrown from the top landing. One of these was still in place and had pierced the mesh at face height. I had ducked under it on my way up but on the way down the prisoner was in front of me, but looking all around expecting to be jumped at any time, and he did not see the scaffolding pole.
Just as he was about to walk into it I shouted to him, and he literally just skimmed it. I still wonder how I would have explained that one if he had actually walked into that pole, as it would have been quite a serious injury to his face, and it may have been hard to rely on, "he walked into a scaffold pole".

What had started off as a major disturbance quite quickly settled into a stand-off, and staff slowly but surely started to regain control over different areas of the prison, until eventually we controlled everywhere but the main prison wings. As part of this process there was a system put into place for carrying out a thorough search of all areas that had been under the control of prisoners, in order to ensure that we were not at risk of being compromised by prisoners being able to outflank us, and to determine that there were no booby-traps to catch out the unsuspecting. There was also the added element and indeed the more gruesome task,of ensuring that there were no dead bodies.

By this time, the Chapel, where the whole thing had started, had now been completely cleared of everything. This included the suspended ceiling,as prisoners had attacked some staff by entering the roof space above the suspended ceiling and then dropping heavy items through, in a serious effort to kill or maim staff. The suspended ceiling was removed using a fire hose to knock out the tiles, which being made of pulped paper ended up as nothing but a soggy mess on the floor. At the same time all the pews and benches were removed. These were all made of solid oak, fitted into cast iron end pieces that secured them to the floor. The end of each pew was chain-sawed through, close to the cast iron bracket, and the wood then thrown through a window to the ground below. The brackets were then smashed with a sledge hammer and also removed leaving the area completely clear.

The interesting thing was that after the incident was over, we never did find any those solid oak pews that had been thrown out of the windows.

There were three areas that we searched that I remember in particular, each for different reasons. Everyone knows Strangeways by its most distinctive feature, the tall tower in the centre with its ornate topping. Many believe this is a chimney, and in a way it is, but not for smoke. lt is in fact the exhaust outlet for hot air from the plenum heating system. As with many Victorian Prisons the heating system worked on the principle of warm air being drawn up through ducts built into the inner walls, into each cell via a secure grille, across each cell and then up the outer walls, again in built in ducts into the roof space. In the roof space the air was drawn toward the centre hub where, as it is cooled and dropped down a shaft into an exhaust tunnel that led to the base of the flue, then up the flue to be exhausted.

The area of tunnels and ducts that existed as a basement level at Strangeways was known as The Undercroft, and was very extensive. These tunnels and ducts ranged from some, near the centre, large enough to easily drive a car through,and as you move further from the centre toward the end of the wing everything got progressively smaller until the smallest ducts were only a matter of lSOmm square.

I was tasked to be part of a team detailed with searching the Undercroft Areas, and following a report that someone had been seen at the top of the exhaust flue, this included a climb to the top, up the stone spiral staircase built into the wall of the tower. The climb was very interesting as the inside of the tower is dark, and as I remember it, lit by a single light bulb that hung in the centre, but was not working anyway as the power had been cut. We had powerful torches but you had to be very careful with these to avoid blinding someone, as there was no balustrade to the stairs, and no handrail on the outside of the steps. The eerie thing was the constant flow of air upwards passed your face, which was even worse going down as it gave you the illusion of descending faster than you were.

At the top we found no conclusive evidence that prisoners had managed to venture this far, but we did get a magnificent view from above of the damage that had been caused to the prison, and of course a view over the whole of Manchester. This was also the first time that I got any real idea of the number of people in the surrounding streets, and down on the Bury New Road who were watching events. Including several hydraulic platforms with TV cameras perched on them looking down into the prison.

The search of the Undercroft was a long, hot and very exhausting process with each tunnel and duct having to be searched and declared free of prisoners. Because of the unknown risk with regard to prisoners being able to access these areas we were all dressed in full C&R equipment and were at team strength of 12. Some of the staff in the team were from other establishments and were not known to me, and one guy in particular stood out, because he was huge. I don't mean fat. I mean he was built like the proverbial bricks* !#house.

As the search progressed we took it in turns to crawl down the ducts, until they got too small. We had reached one that was just about big enough for my large friend, lets call him "Hulk", to crawl down. Hulk did not look happy, and the reality was he only just fitted into the duct, but give him his due, he was game. So off he went, and when he was about 2m in he let out an almighty scream, and literally flew out out of the duct, as if fired backward from a cannon. He was closely followed by a hissing, spitting, scratching and very angry ball of fur. He had of course come face to face with one of Strangeways many feral cats,and there is no doubt that on that occasion The Cat well and truly beat The Hulk.

Once we were able to declare that the Undercroft Area was free from prisoners we needed to ensure that it was made secure so that they could not gain access, and thereby save the job of repeatedly needing to search the areas. Securing the area was achieved through the simple use of Dannet, (better known as Razor) Wire. Several dozen coils of this were taken into the Undercroft area and laid in a manner that blocked off all possible access and once we left we felt that should any prisoner ever find their way into the Undercroft all we would need to do was recover his corpse, as no one could survive getting caught up in all that wire, and in the pitch black as well. I can personally vouch for just how lethal this stuff was. Carrying out the work I was wearing heavy gloves and protective equipment, and I still came out looking like I had gone ten rounds with one of the feral cats, with cuts and scratches all over, and bits of ripped clothing hanging off me,especially round my arms.

Some time into the incident it was decided that action needed to be taken regarding the kitchen. The catering staff had been in the process of preparing Sunday lunch for over 1600 prisoners when they had to abandon everything in order to safely withdraw, as prisoners swept through taking control of every area of the establishment. To my mind the kitchen was a shining example of proof that the events of that day were unplanned, totally uncoordinated and simply an act of mindless vandalism.

On gaining access to the kitchen prisoners had run rampage through it and had destroyed everything that they could. All the meat had been taken from the cold rooms and dumped onto the floor, as had all the dairy and fresh food. The meal that had been cooking was destroyed and spread all over the walls, floor and ceiling. The only evidence of food being taken for later use was dry goods. The prisoners had of course broken into cupboards and cabinets and taken items such as utensils, and knives. However there was little evidence that food had been taken. We would later discover that they had in fact been much more interested in breaking into the treatment rooms for the drugs, and the canteen and stealing sweets such as Mars Bars, and of course tobacco. Everything was about instant gratification and I certainly never saw any evidence of planning, either short or longer term.

However the current problem to be addressed was that all the food that had been spread around the kitchen, and left to rot, had by this stage started to go rancid, and the flies and rats were becoming a serious health issue. Therefore action needed to be taken to remove all the rotten food in sealed containers for disposal at an approved site. To add to the problem the work needed to be done under full C&R protection making what was far a from a simple job in the first place into a quite complex and drawn out process. All the perishable food in the kitchen was considered to be a health risk so everything was removed and destroyed.

When watching the TV documentary I had to smile when one prisoner told his story of how they had discovered the "prime cuts of beef that were obviously reserved for staff", and how they had taken these onto the wings and enjoyed a barbecue. My experience was that very little food was taken from the kitchen and the prisoners who had first arrived there had simply run rampage and literally destroyed everything and anything that they could get their hands on. Sheer wanton destruction.

One of the "perks" of being the weekend PO on the Works was that you could bring your car in through the main gate and park inside the prison, in the spots usually reserved in the week for "Senior Management". Not all of us used this facility, but my colleague Dennis Ellis was particularly keen, and when it was his weekend on duty he always used to park his pride and joy, a new Skoda lOOE inside. Those of you who can remember this particular model of car may also recall that in the 80's and 90's Skoda cars had a terrible reputation, and indeed were the butt of many jokes. However they were cheap and were many peoples first "new car". Dennis was the duty Works PO on the day the riot started, and on that morning he had made use of the facility to park inside the prison. Unfortunately for him, and of course the others who had parked inside the prison, when it all kicked off, and prisoners made it to the roof, they took great pleasure in using these parked cars for target practice with bricks, slates and whatever else came to hand. As a result, all the cars parked there took quite a pounding.

Sadly for Dennis he was unable to rescue his car, and it sat there for over three weeks. By the end it looked a very sorry sight indeed, with several slates sticking out of the roof and body panels, much of the glass broken, dents all over and covered in dust and debris from standing exposed for so long. When Dennis was able to have the vehicle recovered, of course many of the old Skoda jokes came to the fore again, the best one being that when his insurance assessor came to look at the car he decided that all the pieces of slate sticking out of it, and the damage caused, had in fact increased the value by a fiver. However, if I recall correctly the actual situation was that his insurance company refused to pay out on the grounds that he was not covered against Civil Disturbance, and the fact that he was parked on Crown Property anyway made his policy "Null and Void." He was eventually reimbursed by HMPS. An infinitesimal element of the overall costs of the riots.

As well as the Green Goddesses the other major item of equipment that I was heavily involved with was the lorry mounted hydraulic platform that was hired in very early on in order to give access to roofs, windows and anywhere where it was safer to use than ladder access. I had the advantage that I had an operating qualification for a hydraulic platform and therefore if I was on duty and anyone needed high level access, then a call on the radio was all that was required for me to leap into action. I prided myself on having become quite proficient at driving it, and on the fact that if I was asked to get the platform into a space, as long as the lorry would physically fit, then I would get it in there. Of course the platform's moment in the limelight came at the end of the riot when it was used to bring the remaining five prisoners down from the chapel roof after they surrendered. I was not the driver at that time, being otherwise occupied.

As time dragged on, and the number of prisoners still in the prison steadily decreased the balance shifted from the prisoners effectively controlling events, to the staff starting to take some control of what happened. As a result there were several forays by staff into various areas of the prison in order to test the response from prisoners, and to gather intelligence about levels of damage, where prisoners were living and congregating, and about what might be the best routes to use when the time came to retake the prison.

Usually for these reconnaissance mission missions there would be a diversionary event staged away from where the real activity was going to take place. I recall on one Saturday afternoon I was tasked with being the diversion for something that was going down involving a team entering the prison. Amongst the equipment that had been hired in,or in some cases simply requisitioned from contractors, was a machine called a Bobcat. This is actually a manufacturers name and the proper term is a "Skid Wheel Loader" but in essence it is a small 4-wheeled machine that you sit in and steer with two levers rather than a wheel, and with a hydraulic powered bucket on the front.

One Saturday afternoon I was called to take the "Bobcat" round to the exercise yard between A Wing and B Wing and using it I was to dig a big hole and to make it look as if I was working to some sort of master plan. The aim was to make as much noise as possible, and to draw as many inmates as possible to the windows to see what was going on. So, as per my instructions I then spent the next hour or so digging a large hole in the middle of the exercise yard, with a couple of other members of staff looking on and seeming to give me instructions on what to do, before a radio message told us that the entry team had finished their work and were safely out of the prison. This was my signal to add to the confusion by then filling in the hole,and driving off.

GRAHAM MUMBY-CROFT

Part Three of Graham's Strangeways memoir will appear in the Autumn edition of the Newsletter in which Graham describes the 'war of wits' with the prisoners as the riot dragged on, and the meticulous planning to retake the prison and get the last remaining prisoners down safely into custody. Finally he describes the 'endgame' and his own feelings when Britain's worst ever prison disturbance was over.