Former Medomsley prison officer used position to abuse young inmates, court hears

A former prison officer “took advantage of the power entrusted in him” to inflict sexual and physical abuse against young inmates in the 1970s, a jury has heard.

Alexander Flavell, 89, worked at Medomsley Detention Centre near Consett, County Durham, where there was an “atmosphere of fear”, and he repeatedly assaulted inmates who knew him as a bully.

He has previously denied misconduct in a public office, buggery, indecent assault and three counts of assault.

Flavell is unfit to stand trial and is not at Teesside Crown Court where the jury has simply been asked to consider if he did the acts as charged.

Jamie Hill KC, prosecuting, said: "Alexander Flavell was a prison officer working at Medomsley Detention Centre and he inflicted sexual abuse and unlawful violence on several inmates."

The teenage "trainees" had committed offences and were there to be punished, Mr Hill said, but Flavell, whom they nicknamed “Fatty”, persistently exploited his position of authority.

“In other words, he took advantage of the power entrusted in him,” Mr Hill said.

Medomsley was run as a detention centre from 1961 to 1987 and although it was operated under the so-called “short, sharp shock” regime, “it was never intended to give officers a green light to assault prisoners”, Mr Hill added.

Jurors were told that other Medomsley officers committed serious acts of violence and sexual offences and there was an “atmosphere of fear and violence throughout this institution”, Mr Hill told the court.

"We say that allowed officers to commit offences in the knowledge that the type of behaviour was almost sanctioned by colleagues."

Flavell at times worked as a chef along with Neville Husband, who was convicted of serious sexual offences in 2003 and 2005 and has since died, Mr Hill said.

Flavell, who joined the prison service after 12 years in the armed forces, is accused of buggery – which would now be charged as rape – by attacking a trainee in the hospital unit in 1971, Mr Hill said.

The complainant said Flavell hit him hard on the head, causing it to bang off a wall and he fell to the ground.

Later, showing signs of concussion, he was taken to the hospital unit where he said he was raped by a male nurse and then Flavell.

The elderly defendant is also accused of indecently assaulting a different trainee in the kitchens with Husband in 1972.

Mr Hill said the teenager was forced to strip naked, covered in grease and was repeatedly pushed and pulled through a kitchen serving hatch by the two officers.

Another complainant, who has since died, said Flavell broke his arm in the gym by repeatedly smashing it against a wall.

The misconduct charge, which spans 1969 to 1975, related to a number of complainants who alleged Flavell committed acts of violence on them, the court heard.

The defendant denied the offences when the allegations were put to him, jurors were told.

“Mr Flavell was interviewed before he became too unwell to stand trial and he simply denied he had done anything wrong,” Mr Hill said.

The trial continues.

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