Crime boss brings legal challenge to be housed in prison closer to his mother

A crime boss jailed for murder is bringing a High Court challenge against the Government over a refusal to permanently move him to a prison closer to his disabled mother’s home so she can visit him.

Garry Cooper, the leader of a £1 million per year county lines drugs operation, was handed a life sentence following the killing of Ross Ball at a flat in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, amid what police described as a gang “turf war” in November 2019.

The property had been occupied by rivals and Cooper sent men armed with a sword, machetes and a baseball bat to re-claim it, a judge was told.

Mr Ball, a 42-year-old vulnerable drugs user whose home was taken over for dealing, was caught outside and attacked, later dying from his injuries.

Cooper, then aged 34, and six others were jailed for their part in the killing in December 2020, with the gang leader receiving a 29 year minimum term.

A judge at Nottingham Crown Court previously said that, despite not being present at the murder scene, Cooper had directed the attack “to inflict punishment” through getting others “to carry out your dirty work”.

At a hearing in London on Wednesday, Cooper’s lawyers argued that the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) had since failed to make “reasonable adjustments” to allow his mother to visit him and had breached their right to a family life.

Cooper claims it is “impossible” for his mother, who cannot be identified and who has physical and mental health conditions, to travel from her home in Nottingham to the high security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire where he is held.

He argues he should be transfer to HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire, where his mother could “tolerate” travelling to amid difficulties with car journeys and her fluctuating medical condition, the court was told.

Michael Bimmler, representing Cooper, said in written arguments that he and his mother had previously relied on the inmate being temporarily transferred to other prisons which was at the MOJ’s discretion, “haphazard” and “hindered by the population pressures in the prison estate”.

The barrister said the “notorious” pressures mean temporary stays at Lowdham Grange would be “unreliable and irregular for the foreseeable future”, adding that video calls were not a “feasible alternative”.

He said Cooper was only seeking to be transferred “within the long term and high security prison estate”, that there had not been concerns about his behaviour during previous temporary moves and that the MOJ’s arguments “overstate” the differences between certain prisons.

Mr Bimmler said Cooper’s transfer bid should be reconsidered after a prison population manager had “closed his mind” to the move.

Myles Grandison, for the MOJ, said in written arguments that the legal challenge should be dismissed, adding that Cooper’s “risk profile” means he should stay at Whitemoor.

He said the Government apologised for previous “inadequate” prison officer communications with Cooper, but added that the population manager’s refusal letter in August 2022 was “clear, well-reasoned and fully justified”.

Mr Grandison said that given his links to organised crime there were other prisoners Cooper was prevented from associating with, as well as others who want to harm him.

The lawyer said Whitemoor has “greater physical and procedural security counter measures” than Lowdham Grange.

“It would be wholly inappropriate to hold (Mr Cooper), long term, in a prison that is not set up to counter the risks he poses, or provide the courses he will need to undertake throughout his sentence,” Mr Grandison said.

He added that Cooper and his mother had access to phone and video calls, written correspondence and the temporary prison moves.

Mr Grandison said the prisoner had not been temporarily transferred more frequently due to the “almost unprecedented demands on the prison population” and difficulties at Lowdham Grange.

The Nottinghamshire prison was brought under Government control from private provider Sodexo in December last year to make improvements after it was branded unsafe by inspectors.

The hearing concluded on Wednesday, with Judge Bilal Siddique saying he will give his ruling at a later date.