What was it the philosopher said about ignoring the lessons of history? In 2002, according to newly released cabinet papers, Tony Blair thought asylum seekers might be sent to the Isle of Mull. Sixty years ago, the same idea was mooted for top-class criminals.
The 1960s were not a good time for HM Prison Service. First, the robber Paddy Meehan escaped from Nottingham, cutting his way through the wire during a cricket match and disappearing to Germany.
Great Train Robber Charlie Wilson, thought to be the gang’s treasurer, escaped from Winson Green en route for Canada – later followed at Wandsworth by his partner in crime Ronnie Biggs. ‘Mad axeman’ Frank Mitchell was spirited away from Dartmoor by the Krays. John McVicar organised a mass breakout as a coach was returning to Parkhurst from Winchester Assizes. Two weeks later, six prisoners escaped from D Hall in Wormwood Scrubs and five got over the wall. Finally, to add insult to injury, the spy George Blake escaped from the same prison, heading for Russia.
Something had to be done. Lord Mountbatten was commissioned to report on how the escapes were managed and what to do to prevent them. One of his considerations was a new maximum security prison on an island. Mull was not among his final three sites, which were the Calf of Man, Muckle Skerry in Orkney and Muck Island. Of these, he preferred Calf of Man, but he eventually ruled out the idea partly on the grounds of cost (Alcatraz had just closed), supply problems, and reasonable living conditions for staff and their families.
Mountbatten admitted that he had not consulted the Isle of Man or the Scottish authorities about the prospect of a prison for English prisoners. Eventually he suggested a new maximum security prison on the Isle of Wight. That, in turn, came to nothing.
And now, at the end of 2023, Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson suggested the Orkneys for asylum seekers. ‘A bit parky in winter’, but otherwise thoroughly suitable.
As the old folk song had it: ‘When will they ever learn?’
James Morton is a writer and former criminal defence solicitor
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