Triple murderer demands protection after 'racist' attack in East Yorkshire prison

Kevan Thakrar, 31, was collecting a meal from the prison canteen when he was stabbed four times with a sharpened piece of wood at HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire, campaigners said.

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Staff at the prison did not call an ambulance or to take Thakrar to hospital but he was treated by two nurses on the prison wing for puncture wounds inflicted by a “known racist”.

Thakrar is serving three life sentences for a drug-related murder of three men and the attempted murder of two women in 2007. He was convicted.

The prisoner was convicted alongside his older brother Miran for using a submachine gun to murder the men, under the controversial “joint enterprise” law, which meant he did not have to be present when the crime was committed in order to be convicted.

The killer was moved from his previous prison after being cleared of assaulting four prison guards in 2011 and after winning more than £1,000 in compensation for damage guards caused to his belongings in a separate incident in 2016.

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The prisoner has made complaints to the prison and to the Ministry of Justice about threats of violence from known racist prisoners since his arrival at the prison but no action has been taken, his representatives said.

The Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee (IWOC), of which Thakrar is a member, has contacted the Ministry of Justice and the Governor of HMP Full Sutton, Gareth Sands, to request that he is moved out of the Close Supervision Centre and to a safer prison, closer to his family.

Ceri Paine, a spokesperson for IWOC said: “The lack of regard for the safety and wellbeing of prisoners held in Close Supervision Centres across the country is a national scandal. Prison and government officials have been aware of the danger that racist prisoners at HMP Full Sutton presented to Kevan for months now and have refused to act, putting his life at risk. HM Prisons and Probation Service must now act to move Kevan out of this dangerous environment and closer to home to enable him to maintain vital family ties.”

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A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “A prisoner received medical treatment after being assaulted by an offender at HMP Full Sutton on 23 December.

"The incident is being referred to the police so it would be inappropriate to comment further.

“We are investing £100 million, as part of a broader £2.75 billion programme, in security to cut violence in prisons.”