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I cannot hide ht, and he leaves me while I make up my new bed He returns a few minutes later with a battered black radio, from I know not where

‘I’ll see you later,’ he says and disappears again

I take a considerable ti the radio on the tiny bricksill with the aerial poking out between the bars before I am able to tune into the familiar voice of Christopher Martin-Jenkins on Test Match Special He’s telling Blowers that he needs a haircut This is followed by the more serious news that Australia are now 92 for 2, and both the Waugh brothers look set in their ways As it’s an off-writing period, I lie down on the bed and listen to Graharoan as two catches are dropped in quick succession By the tioes for supper, Australia are 207 for 4, and I suspect are on the way to another innings victory

400 pm

Once again I reject the prison food, and wonder how long it will be before I have to give in

I return to my cell to find my purchases from the canteen list have been left on the end of my bed So, is strangely my first reaction I pour a cup of Buxton water into les I eat and drink very slowly

700 pm

Three hours later another bell rings All the cell doors are opened by prison officers and the inround floor for what is known as ‘Association’ This is the period when you est route I can circu is now a luxury – I discover what activities are on offer Four

blackin one corner playing dominoes I discover later that all four of them are in for murder None of them appears particularly violent as they consider their nextpool, while others lounge around reading the Sun – by far the e on a si queue for the two phones Each waiting caller has a £2 phonecard which they can use at any ti Association I’ is to is the day after tomorrow?

I stop and chat to someone who introduces himself as Paul He tellshow he got caught e are joined by a prison officer A long conversation follows during which the officer reveals that he also doesn’t believe Barry George killed Jill Dando

‘Why not?’ I ask

‘He’s just too stupid,’ the officer replies ‘And in any case, Dando was killed with one shot, which convinces me that the murder must have been carried out by a disciplined professional’ He goes on to tell us that he has been on the sahteen months and repeats, ‘I can tell you he’s just not up to it’

Pat (hter, four years) joins us, and says he agrees Pat recalls an incident that took place on ‘prison sports day’ last year, when Barry George – then on re in the one hundred yards and fell over at thirty ‘He’s a bit of a pervert,’ Pat adds, ‘and perhaps he ought to be locked up, but he’s no murderer’

When I leave them to continue my walkabout, I observe that we are penned in at both ends of the roo steel-mesh sheet Everyone nods and smiles as I pass, and so trials, while others who are sending out cards need to kno to spell Christine or Suzanne Most of them are friendly and address me as Lord Jeff, yet another first I try to look cheerful When I remember that if my appeal fails the ine how anyone with a life sentence can possibly cope

‘It’s just a way of life,’ says Jack, a forty-eight-year-old who has spent the last twenty-two years in and out of different prisons ‘My proble when I get out’