Gangsters launch fire bomb attack on Liverpool's Altcourse Prison
CITY gangsters declared war on prison guards by fire-bombing a security van and attacking their cars with petrol.Two masked thugs on a scrambler bike rode up to the prison van and smashed its windscreen before pouring petrol inside and lighting it.
They also covered the private cars of five staff members with petrol and aimed a threatening ‘gun salute’ at workers who were changing shift at Altcourse Prison on Wednesday night.
The thugs then fled down Brookfield Drive towards Fazakerley Hospital on a blue off-roader.
The blazing 4x4 prison van, used to patrol the 900-capacity prison’s perimeter, was put out by prison officers before it could explode. It was later dragged inside the prison.
The attack is believed to be a stark warning to prison officers trying to clamp down on mobile phone use by inmates.
A prison source told the ECHO: “It’s gang related. It’s people in here who have organised it to try to scare members of staff.
“That’s why it happened just before 9pm when they knew people would be there to see it. They’re trying to make it personal against the staff.
“It takes a lot to scare prison staff but when they’re going after your car it’s personal.
“They’re probably doing it because there’s a big surge on mobile phones in prison at the moment. They’re saying ‘You leave us alone and we’ll leave your cars alone’.”
A spokeswoman for G4S, which operates Altcourse Prison, said: “We had a dog patrol van parked outside the prison. A couple of people smashed the windscreen with a brick and tried to set it on fire. I can’t comment on anything else.”
THE ECHO
