Camden New Journal - News: Minicab driver’s killer is found dead in cell as he starts life term

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Camden New Journal - by JAMIE WELHAM and DAVID ST GEORGE
Published: 15 November 2007

Wilson died in cell

Minicab driver’s killer is found dead in cell as he starts life term

Prisons ombudsman to probe death just three days after Old Bailey sentence

AN inquiry has been launched into the death of a killer in a high security prison three days after he was given a life sentence for the murdering a Gospel Oak minicab
driver.
Desmond Wilson was found dead in his cell in Belmarsh prison on Thursday, after being convicted of stabbing father-of-five Mohamed Maslah on Monday at the Old Bailey.
Mr Maslah who lived with his family in Wendling, Gospel Oak was working a late-night shift for an Archway cab firm when he was killed. Wilson admitted he had been “wasted” when he stabbed Mr Maslah, but insisted he had done so in self-defence during an argument over Mr Maslah’s demand for a £5 excess fare.
Wilson called the cab to take him to the home he shared with his girlfriend in McIndoe Court, Islington, on May 5.
But Judge Anthony Morris, QC, told him: “I am satisfied that in carrying out your savage attack you intended to kill him. If you had not been carrying a knife he would still be alive.”
The investigation by Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will focus on whether Mr Wilson was given the standard assessment in prison to identify whether prisoners are at risk of harming themselves or others.
On Monday, a Ministry of Justice spokesman confirmed that Wilson had been declared dead by doctors at 12.12pm on Thursday after prison officers found him at 11.30am. He was unable to confirm exactly when Mr Wilson had arrived at Belmarsh, but added: ““He was not identified as at risk of self-harm at the time of his death.”
The death follows a report by a prison watchdog into the growing number of deaths in custody. It is the second at the maximum security prison this year and one of 77 self inflicted deaths across England and Wales.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust said: “The sobering truth is that, despite considerable efforts by the prison service, already this year the number of suicides in prison has exceeded the number for the whole of last year. Almost a third of suicides occur within the first week of someone arriving in custody. The Government needs to act.”

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