Double rapist Leslie Malcolm sues Frankland prison for £50,000

Nov 4 2009 The Journal

A RAPIST serving a life sentence is suing for up to £50,000 after claiming a lack of open air exercise at a North East jail breached his human rights.

Convicted rapist Leslie Malcolm yesterday launched the High Court bid following a complaint that he was not given a full hour of exercise each day during his time at HMP Frankland in County Durham. Malcolm, 45, jailed for life in 1996, claims he was only allowed 30 minutes of open air exercise for each of the 158 days he spent inside the high-security jail’s segregation unit.

Now he is asking a judge at London’s Court of Appeal to award him compensation against the Ministry of Justice.

His barrister, Phillippa Kaufmann, told Mr Justice Sweeney that the action by Malcolm, who alleges “misfeasance” in public office and a breach of his human rights, was not “trivial”.

She said it was a situation that persisted over a six-month period in the context of a segregation unit “with all the impoverishment of his surrounding conditions that goes with that”.

The case also raised an issue not just for Malcolm, but for other prisoners in segregation.

But pressure groups campaigning on behalf of victims of violent crime last night blasted legally-aided Malcolm’s claim.

David Hines, of South Shields, who founded the National Victims’ Association after his 23-year-old daughter Marie was murdered, said: “We are sick of this Human Rights Act.

“It seems to be used left right and centre for the most petty-sounding things, but when do you hear about these people’s victims complaining that their human rights have been breached?

“The really bonkers thing about it is these prisoners are given access to lawyers and solicitors to fight their cases for them.”