Attempts to stop prison drone drug deliveries hampered by crumbling Victorian walls
Weak and crumbling walls in Victorian prisons are hampering attempts to halt drones from delivering drugs and weapons to inmates.Plans to install tougher netting and window grilles to stop drones from entering have been hampered because the walls have been unable to take the extra weight, prison governors said.Recent attempts to fix anti-drone netting at HMP Pentonville, the Victorian prison in north London, were stalled after they found that the bricks were too soft, sources have said.Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales, said last month that the Prison Service had “ceded the airspace above many of our prisons to serious organised crime”, resulting in a “national security threat”.The number of incidents at prisons involving drones has risen by more than 1,000% over four years, with gang members able to fly packages carried by drones direct to cell windows.
The packages are then retrieved by inmates with a hook.Their use has become so ubiquitous that inspectors have found packages weighing more than 15kg, delivering goods such as weight loss and hair loss drugs, anabolic steroids and fast food.Nets can be fixed to walls to catch the drones by snagging their propellers, while fixed window grilles can be used to stop prisoners from pulling packages into their cells.But Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors Association, said measures to stop drones were not being introduced quickly enough and faced structural problems.“Physical measures such as netting, wires and grilles are the preferred option for preventing contraband getting into prisons.
They make it almost impossible,” he said,“In some prisons, there are concerns that such measures put extra weight on the walls and the weight can be too much for the buildings,”HMP Pentonville, a category B prison which holds about 1,200 inmates, is undergoing a significant overhaul after Taylor issued an urgent notification in July,Some netting was installed across the exercise yard several years ago,But plans to install stronger mesh across other parts of the prison were stalled, senior sources said, after engineers found that the walls could not hold it at the necessary tension.
An industry insider blamed the softness of ‘London stock brick’ which was used to build the prison in 1842,“Not only are the yellowy bricks soft, but the mortar between them is very old,It is very difficult to fix ropes and meshes as a result,” they said,“To get over the problem, you have to design steel brackets and support that share the load, and that can be difficult to do in such restricted places,It is not an easy task,.
”The number of drone incursions recorded by prisons rose from 138 in the year to March 2021 to 1,712 in the year to March 2025.This does not include drone drops that were not detected by jails.A gang that used drones to smuggle drugs into Pentonville and other London prisons was jailed in March.Ministers are hoping to roll out more anti-drone netting across prisons.David Lammy, the justice secretary, visited the Ukrainian military in January to discuss how to adapt battlefield tactics to combat drone use in jails.
Inspectors called for an overhaul of security in Victorian prisons in 2024 after it emerged that inmates in HMP Winchester managed to dig through cell walls using plastic cutlery.The government has promised to invest £10m on anti-drone measures.A Prison Service spokesperson denied that some prison walls were too weak to support anti-drone measures such as nets.“All improvements to prison security are tailored to individual jails, following detailed structural assessments to ensure they are safe and effective,” they said.“We have invested over £40m to fund a range of physical security enhancements.
These improved measures will boost safety, combat the influx of drone activity and clamp down on suspected wrongdoing behind bars.”
Oil and gas prices fall sharply, driven by hopes of strait of Hormuz reopening – as it happened
Brent crude keeps falling amid hopes that the strait of Hormuz could soon be open again. The global benchmark has slid to $97.48 a barrel, down $12 a barrel – a near-11% drop, the lowest since 22 April.US West Texas intermediate crude fell 11.3% to $90
Up to 150 former WH Smith stores face closure, putting thousands of jobs at risk
Up to 150 former WH Smith stores are likely to close, putting thousands of jobs at risk under a radical restructuring plan by their new owner, which had rebranded the shops as TG Jones.The investment company Modella Capital, which bought WH Smith’s chain of 480 high street stores for £76m last year, blamed “weak consumer spending” as it set out the plan to landlords on Wednesday.Eight of the chain’s remaining 450 stores will close immediately, while Modella is demanding 100% rent holidays on about 100 more, as first reported by the Telegraph.The company also wants 75% rent reductions on hundreds more stores for a year, with cuts of between 15% and 75% beyond that period, according to a document seen by the Guardian. If landlords refuse the rent holidays and cuts, the stores could shut
Airlines among companies using fuel surcharges to cover surge in costs, UK survey shows
Airlines and other companies are increasingly using fuel surcharges to cover soaring costs, a survey has found, in a further sign of Iran war-linked inflation hitting the economy.A poll of companies in the services sector, which includes airlines, found rising fuel prices had contributed to businesses raising prices at the fastest pace in more than three years in April.Nearly six in 10 firms surveyed by S&P Global said average costs rose last month, mostly driven by fuel and higher wages, but also in part by metals and plastics getting more expensive.IAG, the conglomerate that owns British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, said last month it would make “some pricing adjustments to reflect these higher fuel costs”, although it stopped short of labelling the move as a surcharge.Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has added a charge of £360 to business class tickets, falling to £50 for economy
JD Wetherspoon issues third profit warning this year as costs climb
The boss of JD Wetherspoon has said the pub chain could miss profit expectations because of rising costs, in the latest sign the UK hospitality industry is buckling under the pressure of higher energy, food, labour and tax bills.The company’s chair, Tim Martin, told investors on Wednesday: “As many hospitality operators, including Wetherspoon, have reported, there have been substantial increases in costs.”It is the third profit warning this year from the company, which operates about 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland. Investors had already been expecting a drop in pre-tax profit to £73m, compared with £81m last year.Pubs, restaurants and hotels have said rising costs are making it harder to make a profit
UK regulator launches review of ‘aggressive’ claims management firms amid compensation concerns
The City regulator has launched a review of claims management companies amid concerns that firms are misleading victims of financial scandals, such as car finance, about their compensation.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said some companies were pursuing “aggressive marketing, misleading advertising and unfair exit fees”.Some consumers were being signed up without their permission or by multiple companies, the FCA said, which could delay any compensation owed.Claims management companies (CMCs) have targeted victims of the car finance scandal, where they can charge fees worth up to 33% of the final payouts. The FCA and lenders have advised consumers not to use these firms as the regulator’s scheme is free to use
‘Our competitors are everyone’: Joybuy leads ‘China’s Amazon’ into the UK
“We’re here to shake up the UK e-commerce market,” says Matthew Nobbs, the UK boss of Joybuy which is spearheading a European charge by China’s version of Amazon.“I see our competitors as everyone,” he adds, reflecting the scale of ambition of the online retailer that sells home appliances, groceries, makeup and more.Joybuy is owned by China’s JD.com, the giant online and high street retail group which is taking on its US rival Amazon in Britain in a clash that is expected to lead to “collateral damage” for UK retailers caught up in the tussle for shoppers.JD
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