Three physical training instructors at HMP Edinburgh suffered unfair dismissal after a prisoner accused them of attacking him, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Blair McTague, Scott Milne and Kevin O’Hara lost their jobs following an incident at the prison in September 2022. The tribunal has ordered compensation for all three. It will assess the amount later.
A panel of employment judges found that the investigation was “fundamentally flawed”. It said the inquiry was not reasonable in the circumstances of the case. The employer had also failed to follow its own policy in a material respect, the judges found.
According to the tribunal, the prisoner’s allegations went unchallenged. It said they were taken at face value and “never subject to any scrutiny”.
The tribunal heard how the incident began. An alarm sounded, and prison officers found two prisoners fighting. Both ended up subdued, and all prisoners then had to return to their cells.
Some of the other prisoners objected to returning to their cells. One of them, named only as B, swore at an officer and made a racist comment about his heritage.
The officer challenged B, who then went to his cell. Officers dealt with the incident after B’s cellmate had been taken out of the room. B kept up his aggressive behaviour towards the same officer.
The tribunal heard that CCTV showed nothing to suggest any staff member had assaulted the prisoner. Afterwards, B had a mark on his left temple. The officer B had abused said at first that he may have caused it. He said B had allegedly put a hand on him, and he had turned round to shake him off.
B later told a manager that six officers had assaulted him. He named some of them but said he did not recognise them all. He went on to repeat his claims of assault, in more detail, to a trainee psychologist.
The three instructors received letters setting out accusations of gross misconduct, including the alleged use of inappropriate force. Their employer suspended them and later sacked them.
The tribunal found that the employer had been “hasty and inaccurate” in its decision-making. It heard that some managers accepted they had not properly investigated the alleged beating.
