Mum-of-two Claire, 50, was forced to sprint 60 yards past some of the most dangerous inmates in the country as raging triple killer Kevin Thakrar pursued her with a blade
The three prison guards attacked by the Manchester Arena bomber will suffer trauma for the rest of their lives, a former Frankland officer warned today. Claire Lewis survived a horrific assault by a lifer in the notorious jail in Durham. But she is furious that “nothing had been learned” from her horrendous experience 15 years ago. Mum-of-two Claire, 50, was forced to sprint 60 yards past some of the most dangerous inmates in the country as raging triple killer Kevin Thakrar pursued her with a blade. He stabbed her in the back in the frenzied attack. Forced to retire at 35 due to her injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she said: “They need to say no to these people about their prison conditions.
“Hashem Abedi was transferred after assaulting two staff in Belmarsh. He was already serving 55 years, with another three years added for that attack, so had nothing to lose. He is doing it for notoriety and now other prisoners will think they can do the same.”
Kitchen facilities are being suspended in prison ‘separation centres’ as a result of the latest attack. But Claire added: “Prisoners like him should not have access to any cooking facilities And staff should be wearing stab vests.
“They banned all glass after the attack on me. But it is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I cannot believe that 15 years on, these lessons have not been learned after what happened to me. These prison officers will have to deal with the consequences for the rest of their lives.”
Claire was forced to retire and rebuild her life, but still suffers flashbacks and has had to endure years of surgery for her injuries. It has brought an emotional toll for her partner, former police officer Ged Mulheran, 56, their two adult daughters and her parents.
“I went around to see my mum and she was crying about this latest incident,” she said. “It brought it all back for her, and for me. It still impacts us to this day. People have no idea what it is like; it beggars belief that prison staff are still suffering in this way. “Their lives are being put at risk.”
Claire suffered terrible knee injuries as she fell onto the concrete floor of the wing, and will have to undergo further surgery. Her colleague Craig Wylde was lucky to survive when Thakrar slashed his arm, severing an artery. Thakrar screamed ‘I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!’ in the chase around the second floor landing of HMP Frankland, which has a special wing for terrorists.
Thakrar is serving three life sentences for killing three men with a 1,000-round-a-minute machine gun over a £10,000 drug debt. He was cleared of attempting to murder Claire and Craig, and wounding Neil, after a three-and-a-half week trial in November, 2011.
The verdict sent shock waves through the prison system, provoking fury from the Prison Officers Assocation (POA), Durham’s Deputy Chief Constable, and a former governor of Frankland. Claire called for greater investment in prisons, and better pay for prison officers.
She recently saw an advert for a prison officer’s job in Frankland on £12.21-an-hour, the minimum wage. “It is no good recruiting unless you pay decent salaries,” added Claire, of Washington, Tyne and Wear. “The job is just too dangerous for a low wage. You can earn more working in a supermarket, with none of the risks.”
The POA said Abedi, 28, – brother of bomber Salman Abedi, who died at the scene – threw hot cooking oil over the guards before stabbing them with homemade weapons on Saturday. He was sentenced in 2020 to at least 55 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 counts of murder over the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
The attack happened in the separation centre which is often referred to as a “prison within a prison”, usually used to house dangerous prisoners and those deemed a risk of radicalising other inmates. POA national chairman Mark Fairhurst called for “cooking facilities and items that can threaten lives of staff” to be removed. It is believed that kitchen use in prison separation centres has now been suspended.
Speaking after convicted murderer John Mansfield was killed by another inmate at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said Sir Keir Starmer was “appalled by the attack”.
“Prison staff work around the clock to keep the country safe and we will never tolerate the violence that is targeted towards them,” he said. “It’s clear that something went terribly wrong in the management of this offender and the government is committed to carrying out an investigation to urgently get answers.”
Segregation centres were introduced in 2017 in an attempt to control and contain prisoners with extreme views. A 2022 inspection report said the Frankland unit was on a narrow corridor with an area for prisoners to cook and prepare food.
