HMP Woodhill murder: Failures over exercise yard execution

James Brabbs, Jibreel Raheem and Stephen Boorman (L-R) wanted to show they were "untouchable", their sentencing hearing was told

A prison failed to conduct thorough searches before an inmate was "executed" with undetected weapons in an exercise yard, a jury found.

Convicted killer Taras Nykolyn, 49, was murdered by three fellow inmates who tried to behead his corpse at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes in June 2018.

An inquest jury found "a failure in the control and monitoring of razor blades issued to prisoners from the canteen".

The Prison Service said it was considering the findings.

Stephen Boorman, Jibreel Raheem and James Brabbs were each jailed for life in 2019 for the murder of Ukrainian national Nykolyn, who was himself serving a sentence for manslaughter.

During sentencing of the trio, Mrs Justice Whipple said the "ferocity and speed of violence was shocking".

"This was a planned execution by the defendants in cold blood," she said.

HMP Woodhill is a Category A prison

The jury at an inquest in Milton Keynes, which concluded last week, found Nykolyn was "brutally" attacked by prisoners who "used improvised weapons that had been taken to the yard undetected".

"Before a sufficient number of prison officers equipped with necessary personal protective equipment were able to enter the exercise yard 25 minutes had elapsed, by which time Mr Nykolyn was dead," they said.

"It has been accepted that the searching of prisoners on the unit was poor, with omissions in checking items and prisoners were given scope to distract staff.

"There was also... insufficient retraining of staff in search techniques, with staff having to rely on initial training often received many years previously."

They also found there was "a failure to review risk assessments after a significant event on the unit".

Unlawful killing

Jurors found there should have been a more rigorous risk assessment done to consider how a serious event could be managed.

They were asked "do you consider that the failure to conduct a thorough search of the prisoners before they went out onto the yard has caused or contributed to Taras Nykolyn's death?", to which they responded "yes".

Jurors also agreed a "failure" in risk assessments had caused or contributed to his death.

They concluded he had been unlawfully killed.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "Our sympathies remain with Mr Nykolyn's family and friends. We will consider the coroner's verdict and respond in due course."

The Prison Service said it could not comment further.

A Prison and Probation Ombudsman's report into the murder is also due to be published.

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