UFO Info Week-End

He has made a point of appearing tough on sentences for drug-smugglers

He has made a point of appearing tough on sentences for drug-smugglers.Customs sources believe that McLean, 59, who was jailed in 1997 for organising a multimillion-pound cannabis smuggling operation, is in Mozambique where he has “business interests” He is believed to have at least £10m stashed away One Customs officer said: “He was a police informer. He was six years into a 24-year sentence.The disappearance of a major criminal such as McLean has caused David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, much embarrassment. Roddy “Popeye” McLean, the drug-smuggler who escaped from an open prison last week, was a long standing police informer, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
The Prison Service is already investigating how McLean was downgraded from a Category A high-risk inmate, described as “one of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners”, to a low-risk Category D status and allowed to transfer from secure Saughton prison in Edinburgh to Leyhill open prison near Bristol. The number of women escaping has been dramatically reduced in recent years.A spokesman for the Prison Service said: “Eighty-two absconders may seem a high number, but you have to bear in mind that up to a couple of thousand inmates might pass through Leyhill in a year.”David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, had already asked the Prison Service to report on how it could make better use of open prisons.. I support the principle of the open prison but only low-risk prisoners should be sent to somewhere like Leyhill.”While prison escapes can be dramatic – last summer Clifford Hobbs, 43, a violent professional criminal, escaped from a prison van which was ambushed by two armed men – most inmates simply walk out of jail.The latest figures released by the Home Office for 2002 show that the number of adult men absconding from prison is the highest since 1997. Some 647 men absconded, of whom 505 walked out of open prisons such as Leyhill. The total number of absconders from prisons in England and Wales for 2002 is 864, of which 203 were from young offenders’ establishments and 14 from women’s prisons.

The open prison near Bristol houses about 480 inmates, all of whom should be Category D – low-risk offenders.
New figures show that 82 inmates absconded between 1 November 2002 and 24 October 2003 Of these, 19 have not yet been recaptured. The Government made the admission in reply to a parliamentary question from Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat MP whose constituency includes Leyhill prison and who is now investigating the McLean escape.Mr Webb said: “I asked the original question because I wanted to find out whether the pressure on the prison system, with record numbers of inmates, was resulting in Leyhill being sent prisoners who are inappropriate for open prison. More than 80 prisoners went on the run from Leyhill prison in Gloucestershire last year, the jail from which Roddy McLean escaped. Using force if necessary.I BELIEVEIt riles them that you perceive the web they weave -Oh no Hang on a minute. I think that’s a preamble from one ofmy old Moody Blues records Oh sod it, I’ll stick it in anyway.. Oops.I DO NOT BELIEVEThat one person’s ignorance is necessarily another person’s set ofpolitical values.I DO NOT BELIEVEThat one person’s sickness should be any bar to them becomingPrime Minister for three terms.I BELIEVEThat Britain should defend her freedom at any timeby exporting it to other countries.

This is a central tenetof anarchism too, so it must be kosher. I have no time for him.”I BelieveBy Martin Newell, ‘IoS’ Poet in ResidenceIt is natural for men and women to want health, wealth and happinessfor themselves and their families. He’s more for the rich people, and Labour’s looking out for people like me.”Anne Davies, a 53-year-old teacher, waiting for the No 88, did not agree with his views on poverty. “He’s a very astute politician, so he’ll be careful what he says, but the statement on poverty and wealth was just silly. And I think it’s grossly optimistic to compare himself to Martin Luther King.”Karen Staple, a 28-year-old mother of four waiting for the No 55, had no time for Mr Howard or his beliefs “He’s very wrong Very wrong indeed.

If he came down here and spoke to people in poverty he’d realise we’re all just the same. It’s good they are differing themselves from the Labour Party I don’t know whether it would make me vote for them though In terms of wealth he has got it wrong. They get loads for something anyone can do.”Rob Weems, a shop-owner, aged 37, on the No 37 did not agree “The one on poverty is just facetious and simple-minded. There is nothing wrong with making money, but there is quite clearly no intellectual basis for that statement.