HMP Woodhill slammed by watchdog after inmate ‘executed’

Sue McAllister, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said she was “very concerned at the lack of co-ordination and urgency in the response” following the “extremely brutal attack” on Taras Nykolyn at HMP Woodhill, in Milton Keynes, on June 5, 2018.

Convicted York killer James Brabbs and two other men – ringleader Stephen Boorman and Jibreel Raheem – attacked Nykolyn, 49, in the exercise yard of the Category B men’s high security prison.

As The Press reported, Brabbs pleaded guilty to murdering Nykolyn, a convicted killer, on the third day of his trial in 2019.

• York murderer carried out execution while in prison

The then 33-year-old, at the time of HMP Belmarsh, and previously of Carnot Street, off Leeman Road, York, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years at the Old Bailey.

Six years earlier, he was jailed for life at Teesside Crown Court for killing van driver Mohammed Saleem Khan in Easingwold.

The 2019 sentence meant Brabbs would have to serve 39 years and eight months before he could apply for parole.

In 2019, Boorman, then 34, denied murder but was convicted by the jury and jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years.

Raheem, then 27, admitted murder and was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years and nine months.

Mrs Justice Whipple described the attack as a “planned execution by the defendants in cold blood”.

The court heard that the men used home-made “shanks” to slash Nykolyn’s body, and repeatedly kicked and stamped on him before tying a ligature round his neck and trying to behead him.

Ms McAllister, in her report, said the attack seemed to have been pre-planned.

She said she was satisfied that there was no information to staff to suggest that Nykolyn was at risk, but added: “However, I am concerned that while the mix of prisoners on the unit was clearly a dangerous one, all four prisoners exercised together, unlike the practice at other special units.

"In addition, there were weaknesses in some other aspects of security and risk assessment in the unit.”

Prisoners threatened to attack any officers who entered yard, says report

According to the report, the four prisoners entered the exercise yard at 3pm on June 5, 2018.

The gate was locked and two officers supervised.

Ten minutes later, one prisoner punched Nykolyn to the floor.

Then, the report says, “all three prisoners continued the attack by kicking him, punching him, cutting him with improvised weapons and tying a ligature round his neck.

“The prisoners threatened to attack any officers who came into the yard.

“The attack continued for just over 30 minutes until officers entered the yard, dressed in protective clothing, and the prisoners surrendered.”

HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes (Image: Chris Radburn/PA Wire)

Despite efforts by health care staff and paramedics, Nykolyn was pronounced dead at 4.23pm while being taken to hospital in an air ambulance, the report states.

The report found that staff could not “reasonably have anticipated that the other prisoners would attack and murder Mr Nykolyn”.

But, the Ombudsman states, “we are concerned that management of the prisoners in the unit was insufficiently proactive and robust, with insufficient recognition of potential risk.”

The report adds that a week before Nykolyn’s death “prisoners on the unit apparently received full packs of six razors, some of which were allegedly used to manufacture the weapons used in the attack”.

It also notes that the four prisoners being locked into the exercise yard together was “not in line with a local risk assessment”.

The managing challenging behaviour strategy unit where Nykolyn was treated before his death has since closed, so the Ombudsman made several recommendations to the Governors of prisons instead.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Woodhill has accepted all the recommendations made in this report including strengthening how offenders in high-security prisons are managed to reduce violence.”