Young people were beaten and humiliated at Medomsley detention centre in 70s and 80s

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Three former prison officers have been jailed for physically abusing inmates at a detention centre in County Durham.

Christopher Onslow, 73, John McGee, 75, and Kevin Blakeley, 67, were convicted of subjecting teenagers to abuse at the Medomsley detention centre near Consett in the 1970s and 80s.

Durham police received more than 1,800 complaints about “degrading and humiliating” mistreatment at the centre between the 1960s and its closure in 1988, Teesside crown court heard.

Thirty-two former warders were interviewed and seven faced court in a series of three trials.

Onslow, a physical training instructor, was jailed for eight and a half years for offences including wounding with intent. The court heard that in one instance he subjected an inmate to a “ferocious beating” with a football boot that he deemed had not been cleaned properly.

In a statement read to the court, the victim of that attack said: “Being inside that place was torture. Medomsley was an absolute hellhole. I deserved to be punished for the crimes I committed but not with the kickings and beatings I sustained.

“The attack on me by Onslow was the most violent experience of my life and I thought I was going to die that day. I would like to see justice not just for myself but to all the others who were beaten, humiliated and worse in that place.”

McGee was found guilty of one count of physical abuse and one count of misconduct in a public office. The court heard that he punched a new inmate in the face and made him bunny hop to the showers.

Blakely was jailed for two years and nine months. The judge Howard Crowson said he had been part of a “culturally brutal regime”.

Crowson said: “These offences were more than a collection of assaults, they represent a grievous breach of the trust placed in prison officers by members of the public. The violence and brutality towards these trainees caused some physical injury, but it was designed to crush their will and to make them feel terrified and powerless, and it succeeded.

“They felt they could not complain, and those who did were told [that] to continue their complaints could result in a return to Medomsley.”

Two other officers who were also convicted will be sentenced later this month.