Prison Governor assaulted

Friday 07 June 2019

The prison governor has been assaulted by an inmate.

Ian Lewell, 45, pleaded guilty to the assault before the Royal Court yesterday, and is now set to be sentenced for it. It is just the latest in a long string of crimes that he has committed.

He was sent to prison in August of 2018 for assaulting three police officers while they were trying to arrest him. He then had his sentence extended in October when he assaulted another prisoner outside of the Les Nicolles medical office. 

Now, Lewell is facing a second extension to that sentence, after he appeared in court yesterday to enter pleas for two new charges - assaulting the prison governor, David Matthews, and another fellow prisoner, Martin Vasich. 

This comes just days after it was reported by the prison service that the risk to their guards has risen in the last year. The number of incidents where force had to be used to keep control doubled compared to 2017, the report said, with it being the case on 61 separate occasions.

The reasons for these incidents included fights with other prisoners, as in Lewell's case, but also verbal arguments, intervening to prevent self harm and breaking the rules. 

Lewell's assault on Mr Matthews took place in February of this year. He assaulted Vasich in April. 

He will be sentenced for these new crimes on 22 July by the Royal Court, where he will be represented by Advocate Liam Roffey.

Pictured top: Les Nicolles Prison, and inset, Ian Lewell.