Serco to be sentenced next year over failures that led to custody officer death

Lorraine Barwell was attacked as she tried to escort a mentally ill prisoner from his cell in Blackfriars Crown Court in 2015.

Blackfriars Crown Court in London (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Archive)

A security contractor which admitted health and safety failings that led to a mentally-ill prisoner kicking a custody officer to death is expected to be sentenced in the New Year.

Humphrey Burke, now 29, attacked 54-year-old Lorraine Barwell as she tried to escort him from his cell in Blackfriars Crown Court in central London in June 2015.

Burke admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was handed an indefinite hospital order at the Old Bailey in January.

Ms Barwell’s employer, Serco, which is contracted by the Ministry of Justice to provide security services in courts, pleaded guilty in April to one count of failure to discharge general health, safety and welfare duty from January 2014 to March 2017.

The prosecution claimed that two attacks on custody officers – Ms Barwell and Bernadette Cawley – within that period demonstrated what can happen if the right health and safety steps are not taken.

Ms Cawley, who survived the attack, was strangled and rammed up against a wall in the dock in an annex court at Woolwich Crown Court in June 2016, but no other custody staff were nearby to help when she pressed the alarm.

On Wednesday, the case was brought before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker to hear more evidence over two days.

The case is expected to be adjourned with the sentencing concluding on a date to be fixed in the New Year.