Garry Green successfully defends inmate in Pentonville Prison murder trial

Garry Green and Charlie Sherrard QC appeared for Joshua Ratner who was acquitted unanimously of a murder committed in Pentonville Prison in October 2016. In a trial lasting 3 months at the Old Bailey the poor conditions of the North London prison were laid bare. Inadequate staffing, violence and the illegal trade in contraband; phones, drugs and weapons. The deceased was killed in a dispute over contraband with a  smuggled in “Rambo knife". Joshua  Rather was an inmate on the same wing at the time.The prosecution alleged he was jointly responsible for the stabbing and death of  Jamal Mahmoud.The motive was said to be a dispute about the control of contraband going into the prison wing. The location and circumstances of the incident were very obviously unique.  During the trial the jury visited the prison wing. They saw first hand the very unsatisfactory conditions of the prison.  A recent report into another London prison, Wormwood Scrubs, highlighted similarly poor conditions.  The case highlights the need to look again at how offenders are punished and how our prisons operate.  

For news links to the Pentonville and Wormwood Scrub stories, see here and here.