Gartree (HM Prison)
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HM Prison Gartree is a prison in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom. It is located on Gallow Field Road and currently has Category B status. Many of its inmates are long-term prisoners serving life sentences.
Opened in 1965, Gartree was originally a Category C training centre, but its status was later upgraded, and since 1992, it has been a Category B prison.
The prison is infamous for a daring helicopter escape which occurred in 1987, and to date the breakout remains the only one of its type to have been carried out in the United Kingdom. On 10 December 1987, at 3.15 pm, John Kendall and Sydney Draper were sprung from Gartree's exercise yard with the aid of a hijacked Bell 206L helicopter. Kendall was a gangland boss serving eight years while Draper was serving a life sentence for murder.[1] The escape caused great controversy at the time and led to a tightening of security at the jail. Kendall was recaptured 10 days later, but Draper remained on the run for some 18 months.
[edit] References
- ^ Helicopter escape still remembered 19 years on (HTML) (2006). Retrieved on 24 November 2007.
[edit] External links
- HM Prison Service page
- Article about the escape
- Article about Market Harborough in which the escape is mentioned
- British Civil Aviation in 1987
- House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 April 1989
- British Society of Criminology report
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