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Wales Online
Lifestyle
Sam Cook

HMP Styal: Women Behind Bars - Inside the prison that houses some of the country's worst child-killers

HMP Styal is the subject of a new Channel 5 documentary that will air on Wednesday, August 17. The hour-long film will see former employees and ex-inmates document their time at the prison, which is located in Wilmslow in Cheshire. The prison, itself, houses some of the country’s worst female offenders, including some of the most dreaded child murderers.

Perhaps one of the most renowned prisoners at HMP Styal is Savannah Brockhill - the killer of innocent toddler, Star Hobson. The one-time Mixed Martial Arts fighter has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years for the crime. Brockhill's "remorseless" self description of 'number one psycho' meant that she was segregated at Waite Wing in the prison.

Waite Wing is an area of the prison that has been specially designed to house women who have committed the worst of crimes and therefore, require stricter supervision. Two ex-inmates speak about the horrific conditions they endured during their time on the Wing.

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Savannah Brockhill resides at HMP Styal for the murder of Star Hobson, where she is serving a life imprisonment sentence (PA)

Describing the Wing, the first inmate says: “It’s basically a big Wing, two levels. There’s about 80 cells on each side. It was a 23 hour bang up, you could get out for an hour association at night where everyone did what they needed to do - shower, make phone calls and that’s it.” The inmate then described some of the conditions they endured at Waite Wing, adding: “The state of affairs on the Wing in itself was just disgraceful. I mean, mattresses full of blood, I caught scabies from the showers. There were nit combs full of nits. It was dirty and disgusting."

Meanwhile, someone else who spent time on the Wing added: “It’s a dive because obviously there are a lot of women who are detoxing, women with mental health problems. There’s a lot of paedophiles, murderers and child killers.

"People would be walking down the landing and throwing up because it was that bad," the former inmate continues, painting a horrifying picture of the conditions in the prison. This imagery would be a stark comparison to the picture painted by Savannah Brockhill, who reportedly called her cell at HMP Styal "cushy", according to The Daily Mail.

A jail source from the Daily Star Sunday revealed that the killer has "admirers" that send cash and fan mail. The source revealed: “It is a sad ­reflection on society that some members of the public enjoying writing to a killer like this – and even rewarding her with gifts.

“A lot are from admirers. It beggars belief really, but Savannah is loving the attention and almost thinks of herself as a celebrity and prison pin-up.”

Savannah's admiration, however, was not shared by prisoners. One person who was at Styal at the same time, said that prisoners would regularly try to "get to [Savannah]" but were unsuccessful, as she always had "four or five officers" to protect her at all times. "She would always walk around with a big smile on her face because no one could get her," the prisoner says as she relayed her disgust.

16-month-old Star Hobson who died from "utterly catastrophic" injuries at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire (PA)

Brockhill, however, is not the only child killer at Styal and there are many others like her at the prison. "We're mixing with women who have killed and raped children. It's not good, especially with women because they are so protective as mums," describes another former inmate, who also says that she remembers meeting a woman who had a dead baby's skeleton in their wardrobe. She adds: "They tried to put her in a house that I was in and she didn't last half-an-hour, she was off. No one would have it. How can you have the skeleton of a baby in your wardrobe?"

See the full story of HMP Styal: Women Behind Bars when it airs on Channel 5 on Thursday, August 17 at 9pm

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