Telford robber's Facebook cell pictures: Why was prisoner able to post them?
A police investigation has been launched by prison authorities after violent Telford robber James Delaney posted Facebook images of himself in his prison cell.
Using a mobile phone illegally smuggled into jail, Delaney is pictured making an offensive hand gesture.
He is a violent robber, jailed for seven-and-a-half years for luring a man to a house, beating him up and stealing from him. But Delaney doesn't seem too worried about his plight.Instead, in a prison cell surrounded by home comforts as he is poses for pictures and posts messages on Facebook.
Today an investigation was under way into how Delaney managed to get his hands on a mobile phone.
It is a criminal offence for an inmate to be in possession of a mobile phone and offenders could be handed a two-year jail term on top of their sentence.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court earlier this month., Delaney was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for robbery and 27 months for causing grievous bodily harm, to run concurrently.
The 29-year-old, who was part of a gang who invited a builder to a house before robbing and assaulting him, is understood to be serving his prison sentence at HMP Hewell in Redditch.
Concerns were today raised as pictures of Delaney were posted and then shared on Facebook.
It has been alleged that posting the photos on social media was an attempt at trying to intimidate the victim of one of his crimes.
He gives an offensive hand gesture in the photograph. Behind him is a desk with a stereo music system and shelves filled with cleaning and grooming products.
The Prison Service today condemned Delaney's behaviour, calling it "totally unacceptable".
The authority has confirmed that action has been taken against Delaney.
Prison Service spokesman Tom Hewett said: "This behaviour is totally unacceptable. We have stripped this offender of his privileges and referred the matter to the police for investigation.
"We have measures in place to detect mobiles in our prisons but we have to look at new ways of blocking them, as well as equipping prison officers with the right tools to tackle this issue."
The Prison Service said it was planning to work with mobile network operators to challenge them to do more, including developing new technological solutions, to block mobile phone signals in prisons.
Body scanners and high sensitivity metal detecting wands are used by prison officers as a way of detecting mobile phones and searches can also be carried out.
Legislation has been introduced to allow prisons to use signal-denying technology to suppress the use of wireless telegraphy, such as mobile phones, by prisoners.
It's not the first time security at HMP Hewell has been questioned.
Last month a judge branded as "deplorable" that a prisoner at the jail could not be brought to court to be sentenced – because he was said to be "too intoxicated".
Jarrell Coleman had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court in November to two charges of dangerous driving.
On the day he was due to be sentenced, the court heard that Coleman, 28, from Coventry, had not been brought to court from HMP Hewell. His barrister Jonathan Veasey-Pugh explained: "He is too intoxicated to be brought to court, not through drink, so presumably through drugs. That should not be the case when someone is remanded in custody."
Judge Alan Parker declared: "I regard this situation to be utterly deplorable and despicable.
"The governor is to conduct an inquiry and report to the court.
"The court would wish to have a written report from the governor as to how a prisoner can get himself into such a state that he is unfit to attend court through intoxication."
And further legislation is expected to be introduced in due course to allow the Prison Service to apply for a court order to compel mobile network operators to disconnect illicit mobile phones being used in a prison.
Delaney, who had lived at Wyvern, Woodside, was handed his prison sentence on April 15 after admitting robbery and causing grievous bodily harm.
Together with Andrew McNab, aged 31, of Henley Drive, Newport, he was jailed for being part of a gang who robbed and assaulting their victim.
Matthew Bowring was so terrified he jumped through an upstairs bedroom window to escape the men – one of whom was brandishing a kitchen knife and another a broken wooden chair leg.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that Mr Bowring had gone to the house in Henley Drive on August 17, 2014, to collect £80 he was owed by two men, who lived there.
But on arrival he was attacked and robbed by a group of four men, the court was told.
The court was told that at one point Delaney lunged towards Mr Bowring's stomach with a kitchen knife. Although he managed to fight it off, it caused injury to his hand, severing tendons.
McNab was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for unlawful wounding.
Delaney has previously served time in prison after being convicted of robbery in the Birmingham area in 2011. He was recalled to prison by the probation service in 2014 for breaking the terms of his licence following his release on December 5, 2013.
