AN IRISH woman, who is suffering from AIDS and is handcuffed to a prison officer in a hospital ward while she is on remand, lost an application for bail at the High Court in London yesterday.
In a 20 minute private hearing the judge, Mr Justice Thomas, refused to grant the woman known only as Jane bail. Outside the court her solicitor, Ms Sarah Cleary, reacted angrily to the decision and said she would now seek a judicial review, arguing that Jane's treatment is in breach of the European Court of Human Rights.
On Monday Old Bailey judge for bail, dismissing a plea on humanitarian grounds after a brief hearing in chambers.
Jane (34), who is charged with conspiracy to supply four grams of heroin, has been handcuffed to a prison officer 24 hours a day for the last week while being treated for AIDS at St Mary's hospital, Paddington, west London.
It is understood Jane was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1986 while living in Dublin. Seven years later she moved to London to receive treatment. She has been on remand in Holloway prison, north London, since last November but was moved to hospital when her condition worsened. No date has yet been set for her trial.
Ms Cleary said Jane's treatment by the prison service was a "disgrace " and that her client could not escape as she is too ill to even walk a few hundred metres. "She's got tubes coming out of her and shackles, too. She is wearing one handcuff, attached by a very long chain to a prison officer."
The chains are not long enough to allow Jane to use the toilet in private, and at night the prison officers have to wrap them in blankets to allow her to sleep in silence.
However, Home Office officials confirmed that the British government's policy of chaining pregnant women inmates in hospital throughout the birth of their child is to be reviewed. It is understood that the decision will be formally announced at the end of this week.
The government was forced on to the defensive following protests over the policy. The two former Tory MPs, Mr Alan Howarth and Ms Emma Nicholson, who have respectively defected to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, also cited this "inhumane" policy as one of the reasons behind their decision.