Row erupts over prison inmates attending funerals

Mar 15 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A BITTER row over prison rules has broken out after a grieving inmate was not allowed to attend the funeral of his fiancee.

A Sunday Sun probe has discovered dozens of North jailbirds were allowed away from their cells for funerals and to visit dying loved ones over the last two years.

Among them are hardened cons from HMP Frankland, a high-security prison in County Durham, which houses some of the country’s most notorious criminals.

But the family of jailed Darren Lee are demanding answers after prison chiefs ruled he could not pay his last respects to his bride-to-be and mother to his two children.

Sarah Strong died, aged 29, last Christmas Eve, just months before she was due to marry Lee, who was jailed for a machete attack in 2007.

Lee has reportedly been on best behaviour since his sentence.

The move comes after celebrity Jade Goody’s husband, Jack Tweed, was freed early from prison where he was serving 18 months for assaulting a teenager with a golf club.

As Jade’s condition grew worse he was released early for their wedding, providing he wear a tag. He then had his curfew conditions relaxed to allow him to spend his wedding night with the star who has weeks to live.

Lee’s daughter Jade, 18, of Eshott Court, West Denton, Newcastle, said: “My step mam has been in my life for 10 years.

“My dad got told at the last minute that he wasn’t allowed to go and he couldn’t do anything about it.