Vanessa Frake, a former prison governor who oversaw notorious criminals including Rose West and Myra Hindley, has changed her stance on capital punishment and now supports the return of the death penalty. She previously served as head of security at HMP Wormwood Scrubs.
Change of Heart on Capital Punishment
Speaking on the Break The Ice channel, Frake revealed that the 'horrendous' crimes committed by certain offenders prompted her to reconsider her position. When asked if she would support a public referendum on the matter, she said: 'Yes, I think I would now. I have swayed from yes when I first joined the prison service, to no when I retired from the prison service.'
'But over the last what, 12 years, 13 years, I have seen society go in a way that there are people who have committed horrendous things, like the London bombings, like [Hashem] Abedi, like you know, [Ian] Huntley, [Wayne] Couzens.'
Notorious Inmates Who Swayed Her
The presenter also asked about Jamie Varley, the killer of Preston Davey. Frake responded: 'Varley, indeed, definitely. [Mick] Philpott is another one, you know. [Criminals] who have committed incredibly horrendous crimes that I would absolutely tick the box "yes" for in a referendum for the death penalty. And yes, I would tick the box to say "yeah".'
Frake has written a book titled The Governor: My Life Inside Britain's Most Notorious Prisons, in which she discusses the controversial inmates she supervised throughout her career.
Previous Opposition to Death Penalty
Last year, she was appointed as Reform's UK prisons tsar. At the time, she told LBC she would not support reinstating the death penalty, which was permanently abolished in 1969. She said: 'If you'd have asked me that question 20 years ago, I'd have said absolutely, no hesitation. I support the death penalty, but, you know, a lot has changed over the years with convictions being unsafe. And is it really a deterrent? Is it a deterrent in the United States, in the States that have the death penalty? No, it's not. I'd much rather those people spend whatever life they have behind bars.'
However, she said she was 'open to discussion' regarding the policy, and it now appears she has entirely reversed her position on what should become of certain prisoners.
Terrifying Encounter with Colin Ireland
During a separate conversation, Frake revealed the most terrifying inmate she ever encountered: Colin Ireland, who murdered five gay men over three months and died in prison in 2012. She recalled: 'I was visiting Wakefield Prison doing a tour and his whole persona felt evil to me. I don't know what it was about him, he just emanated evil. I turned around and he was behind me and I literally bumped into him.'
'I just thought gosh. I have met a lot of different prisoners in one form or another but he was... maybe it was his physical size because he was a giant of a bloke compared to me. I remember his eyes. They were almost pink and they were just these piercing eyes.'
'He said absolutely nothing as if I wasn't there, as if I was a fly that had just brushed past him. No other prisoner has ever made me feel like that — just him.'
'He kind of looked like the pictures you see in the papers. He was just a giant of a man who clearly had no kind of emotion. Maybe that was what was so startling about him. He had no emotion at all, there was just nothing there.'
