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Shake-up due after jail tragedy
MOHAMMED Mudhir had a bright future ahead of him. A student at Leeds Metropolitan University, he was hoping to go on to be a PE teacher.
Instead he found himself in a living hell when an allegation of physical assault was made by one of a group of teenagers.
After two abortive court dates, the 25-year-old returned from visiting family in Iraq to find he had missed a third hearing and a warrant was out for his arrest.
His brother drove him to the local police station in his slippers but to his astonishment he was placed in custody.
And that was then Mohammed's nightmare really began.
An inquest into his death heard that his mental state deteriorated to such an extent during his time at Armley that he could be seen drinking out of the toilet, praying incessantly and pacing in circles around his cell.
During 18 hours in isolation his cell door was opened just once where an officer spoke to him for less than 90 seconds.
He began to self-harm, making lacerations on his wrists, and was heard talking incomprehensibly. Soon afterwards he hanged himself from a bunk bed in his cell.
A jury has now ruled that systemic failures, a culture of complacency and lack of training were among the serious failings leading up to Mohammed's death.
It is certainly little wonder that his shocked family, after hearing the details of his ordeal, described his treatment as monstrous and worse than that of a dog.
Coroner David Hinchliff is to recommend to the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, that all staff at the jail – including those at governor grade – undergo retraining.
Clearly systems have to improve at the jail if more prisoners are not to slip through the net with such tragic consequences.
But even if those improvements are made, they will still be too late to save Mohammed Mudhir.
Blast of fresh air for motorists
CAR park company NCP says its survey found a third of all motorists using car parks have said they are put off by the smell.
So in a bid to win back business, the firm has pledged to clean up its act and bring in fresh and fragrant aromas.
Bosses are giving people the chance to vote for their favourite online – with smells such as flowers and freshly baked bread proving the most popular.
A nice idea – and it certainly gets the company some publicity – but it's hard to avoid the feeling that they've got it all wrong.
After all, it's not the pong that puts people off using expensive city centre car parks – it's the damage they do to their pockets.
So forget the freshly-baked bread and flowers – perhaps it's time NCP woke up and smelled the coffee.
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Weather for Leeds
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
