A three-day weekend packed with royal events is taking place, as Britain celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III.
14.04.2023 - 06:03 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Down the years, the roof of Strangeways prison has been the stage for compelling drama that most rational folk would probably dismiss as outrageously far-fetched if they'd seen such crazy storylines unfold in a TV fiction.
From lone actors to whole cast of protesting malcontents, those tiles have seen plenty of spectacles, some comedy and even tragedy.
The latest saw an inmate named Joe Outlaw mount a 12-hour protest on the roof, wearing a binbag and making 'love heart' signs as he railed against 'IPP' sentences.
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The 36-year-old scaled the roof of one of the buildings in the prison grounds yesterday afternoon (Wednesday). Outlaw, who was jailed for robbery for an indeterminate length of time in 2011, daubed the words 'FREE IPPZ' on the prison roof and continually shouted out the same phrase during his protest. The message refers to the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence (IPP), which was abolished in 2012 and branded 'unjust'.
As he clambered across the tiles of that roof, Outlaw, who has more than 30 previous convictions, was treading where many others had trodden before.
Less than six hours after climbing down from Strangeways' roof, Outlaw appeared at Bolton Crown Court, where he was handed a further jail term for criminal damage to his cell while at HMP Hindley last January.
He yawned in court and said he was a 'bit tired' following his rooftop escapades.
Of course, the prison and its roof erupted in wholescale rioting in 1990, prompting a sea-change in how prisoners are treated.
But there have been more recent episodes.
In September 2015 a lifer, Stuart Horner, caused damage worth more than £1m to the roof of Strangeways during a 60-hour
A three-day weekend packed with royal events is taking place, as Britain celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III.
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Video has captured the moment an inmate climbed onto the roof of Strangeways prison in Manchester.
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