The ringleader of the 1997 Mountjoy prison riots in which five prison officers were held captive has been jailed for 10 years. The court heard that Warren Dumbrell held syringes filled with hepatitis-infected blood to the necks of captive prison officers and told them: I'll make you drink my blood."
He also threatened to "slaughter and slash" the prison officers, and told them: "You have 10 minutes and you'll be done. I'll do one more every 20 minutes."
The Circuit Criminal Court yesterday also heard that the Council of Europe had complained to the Government, under the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture, about the conditions under which Dumbrell was being held in Portlaoise Prison since the Mountjoy riot.
Dumbrell was one of six high-security prisoners in the separation unit of Mountjoy who took five prison officers hostage in protest against conditions. Paul Ward, one of two men convicted of murdering the journalist Veronica Guerin, received a 12-year jail sentence last July for his part in the riot. Dumbrell was a remand prisoner awaiting trial on a robbery charge at the time.
Dumbrell (25) of Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, pleaded guilty to one count of false imprisonment at Mountjoy prison between January 4th and January 6th, 1997. Det Insp Hubert Collins told the court that Dumbrell was moved to the separation unit of Mountjoy at 5.50 p.m. on January 4th, 1997. He and the other rioters planned a rooftop protest and one of them broke through a ceiling in the recreation room in the separation unit. The prisoners were prevented from getting any higher up by a concrete roof
Five prison officers were taken captive, and the rioters were armed with iron bars, a knife and a blood-filled syringe. The prison officers were in fear of their lives, and one later said he "made his peace with God" because he believed he was going to die.
Det Insp Collins said Dumbrell carried a stainless steel knife which he tried to sharpen against a wall. He also carried an iron bar and forced the prison officers to kneel on the ground as if they were about to be executed.
He was also squirted blood out of a blood-filled syringe. He put the syringe to one officer's neck and said it contained blood infected with AIDS. The rioters held a container with their own blood, to which they added more at various times.
Det Insp Collins said he regarded Dumbrell as the leader of the rioters and he had been involved from the very early stages until the end of the siege.
When the siege ended, Dumbrell offered no resistance and walked out quietly. Dumbrell had 25 previous convictions, which included assault, robbery, car theft and burglary.
Det Insp Collins agreed with defence counsel Mr Martin Giblin SC that until recently, Dumbrell has been kept under a "barrier holding system" in Portlaoise prison as a response to his behaviour during the riots. He agreed with Mr Giblin that the Council of Europe had written a letter of complaint to the Government about the conditions in which Dumbrell was being held.
Mr Giblin described the conditions Dumbrell had been held under in Portlaoise as "barbaric". He said Dumbrell had been locked up 23 hours a day, had been deprived of any religious guidance for nine months after the riot, and had no access to work, education or meaningful recreational facilities.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said the case was one of "upmost seriousness". While the prison officers had not been physically assaulted, they were kept under constant threat, and this had an enormous psychological effect.
She said that the court must look at the offence committed, while having due regard to the constitutional rights of the accused person. The conditions under which Dumbrell was being held should be dealt with at a different time, she added.
Judge Dunne declined Mr Giblin's request for a sentence review date and said she was doing so because of Dumbrell's antagonistic attitude to authority and his history of violence. She declined leave to appeal against the severity of the sentence.