G4S staff sacked for tagging offender's false leg
Man tricked security firm employees by wrapping prosthetic limb in bandage, allowing him to remove it and flout court curfew
Private security firm G4S has sacked two members of staff who tagged a man's false leg, allowing him to remove it and flout a court-imposed
curfew.
Christopher Lowcock, 29, fooled the two employees by wrapping a
prosthetic leg in a bandage when they set up the tag at his home in
Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
He was then able to remove the limb and break a curfew imposed for
offences involving drugs, driving and a weapon. G4S sacked the pair
for committing a serious disciplinary offence, it said.
In a statement, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said procedures "were
clearly not followed in this case and G4S have taken action against
the staff involved".
"Two thousand offenders are tagged every week and incidents like this
are very rare," a spokesman added.
G4S revealed managers became suspicious last month but when they
returned to Lowcock's home he had been returned to custody accused of
a driving-related offence.
The company revealed the second employee who went to check on the
monitoring equipment at Lowcock's home was also sacked for failing to
realise he had fooled them into tagging his false leg.
A spokeswoman for the company said it placed electronic tags on
"70,000 subjects a year on behalf of the Ministry of Justice".
"Given the critical nature of this service we have very strict
procedures in place which all of our staff must follow.
"In this individual's case two employees failed to adhere to the
correct procedures when installing the tag. Had they done so, they
would have identified his prosthetic leg."
The two staff involved had committed a serious disciplinary offence by
failing to follow procedure and had been dismissed, s! he said.
The MoJ said contractors were expected to adhere to "the highest
standards of professionalism" and strict guidelines had to be followed
when tagging offenders.
The company also handles immigration detainees and was involved in the
controversial death of Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan national who was deported from a commercial flight from Heathrow last October.
Passengers told the police they saw three G4S security guards heavily
restraining Mubenga, who had been complaining of breathing
difficulties before he collapsed. Three guards were interviewed by
police and released on bail.
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