Reflections 2017: Caroline Johnson – New experiences, challenges and a few surprises

Lincolnshire Police received eight reports of drink spiking in Lincoln so far in October, but none involved spiking by injection, a terrifying new trend across the country.

Meanwhile, the force arrested a 35-year-old man on Friday, after he was suspected to posses spiking chemicals. However, the substances he had were not illegal, so with no crime committed, he was released.

As a number of historical drink spiking reports have been brought up in recent campaigns to tackle women’s safety, police said this is likely due to more media coverage encouraging women to come forward.

Here is the full statement from Lincolnshire Police:

Operation Vicinity coordinates our response and investigations into the recent reports of drink spiking in Lincoln.

Chief Insp Phil Baker said, “We are investigating eight reports so far this month of drink spiking, none of which involve spiking by injection. Whilst these are numbers are relatively low, we know that some incidents may go unreported and we urge anyone who suspects they may have been spiked to call us. One incident of this abhorrent crime is one incident too many and we would like to be clear that it carries a prison sentence of up to ten years.

“You should not have to ‘be vigilant’ when you are out but there are steps you can take; look out for each other, don’t leave your drinks, don’t accept drinks offered by people you don’t know or trust.

“If you suspect a friend has been spiked, stay with them and get medical attention for them if needed. Tell a member of staff and report it to us. The signs of someone having been spiked are lowered inhibitions, loss of balance, visual problems, confusion, nausea, vomiting and unconsciousness. Trust your instincts and if something doesn’t seem right, let us know. We are here to keep you safe and we will treat such allegations with the seriousness they deserve.

“We work closely with our bars, clubs and partners in Lincolnshire to make the venues as safe as possible and many of them operate the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme. If you feel intimidated, uneasy, harassed or uncomfortable because of someone in their venue, you can ask at the bar for Angela and they have protocols in place to address the situation and keep you safe. If you have concerns or suspicions about individuals or activity in any Lincolnshire venue, call us on 101 or 999 if it’s an emergency.”

Operation Vicinity includes work with partners, such as further education, the City of Lincoln Council, Pub Watch, Lincoln Big and the night time economy. Under this Operation we are supporting Officers in ensuring the response is swift and effective including getting early samples if needed to ascertain what substances have been used. As part of the response we are also increasing patrols and conducting additional liaison with venues. We are encouraging searches on entry, education of staff, CCTV monitoring and first aid support on site within our pubs and clubs. We support the work of some venues in offering foil drink toppers to prevent spiking and having facilities to test your drink if you think it’s been tampered with.

A 35-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning. This arrest was on suspicion of possession of controlled substance and attempt to apply or administer a stupefying or overpowering drug, matter or thing with intent thereby to enable him to commit an indictable offence. Our investigation has concluded that no offences had taken place so this man has been released with no further action. Substances in his possession were not illegal and would not have an incapacitating effect. Whilst there were no offences in this case, it does demonstrates we are working effectively in partnership with night time economy and CCTV, to act swiftly in relation to information received.

The issue of spiking has seen an increase as we have come out of lockdown. We believe we may be getting more reports following our highlighting of the issue along with the media coverage. We welcome increased reporting and we want anyone who suspects they may have been a victim to come forward.

ALSO READ:

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A former chaplain at Lincoln Prison has spoken out about the devastation she witnessed in the riots nearly 20 years ago, ahead of the launch of her new autobiography.

Joy Osborne, who has lived in Grimsby all her life, worked as a chaplain at Lincoln Prison between 2002 and 2012 before retiring.  The 74-year-old has documented her experiences in her book ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’, and given a glimpse into life behind bars.

Two of the chapters in her book, focus on the prison riots of 2002, which caused almost £3 million of damage and left one inmate dead, and was sparked by a row over sandwiches.

It was described at the time as the worst disturbance at a British jail for 11 years, according to the BBC, and 21 inmates received sentences totalling 97 years for prison mutiny, assault and unlawful wounding, and violent disorder.

Joy was at work the morning after the riots and told The Lincolnite: “The prison was in the hands of the prisoners for eight hours and was out of control. Prison back up came from all over the country.

“The main chaplain rang me the next morning and asked me to meet them at the gate. It was horrendous to look out on that particular wing, it had been vastly affected. It was like a war zone, cell doors had been ripped off. It felt like mayhem and sadly one prisoner died in his cell.

“Then the job came of trying to pick up the pieces and support prisoners that were there. For a long time the structure of the prison, the day-to-day activities of normal prison life, were suspended and it was like a lockdown.

“I hadn’t been there for very long and it never entered my head that a riot would take place, it was very sad. We worked as a team and supported one another and visited prison officers in their home who were injured and affected. One particular prison officer – Nick Scott – received a Queen’s award for bravery as he rescued one of his injured colleagues.”

‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’ by Grimsby-born Joy Osborne will be launched on October 29, 2021. | Photo: Austin Macauley Publishers

During her forties, Joy says she experienced a call from God to train for ministry in the church. She gained a BA in theology and pastoral studies from Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, before training to work as a prison chaplain at HMP Lincoln.

Her role as chaplain included providing support to prisoners and staff on a variety of issues, sometimes for a brief amount of time and other times longer and ongoing.

Joy was part of a multi-faith team of chaplains, who supported prisoners and staff, as well as their families where appropriate. The role included three statutory duties – to see prisoners who had come in the day before, those in the segregation unit and in the healthcare section, which was a smaller wing of up to 16 prisoners who were unable to cope on the main wing.

A typical day consisted of meeting prisoners, dealing with bereavement issues such as telling them when a relative had died and offering support, and also helping to facilitate visits such as after an application to attend a funeral or visit a terminally ill relative, with supervision from officers.

Lincoln Prison. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Joy said: “Prisoners moved on and would send in a card or letter thanking us for the support they had received. I remember one particular prisoner whose mother was terminally ill and lived in Manchester.

“He was allowed to go and visit her, accompanied by two prison officers. His family sent a card to say how grateful they were that he was allowed to go.

“Every prisoner would be treated in the same manner with decency and respect. You may well know what a prisoner had done, but sometimes you wouldn’t know at all.

“Each individual is a human being. From my perspective as a Christian minister, we are all created in the image of God. Even though people find themselves in prison for a variety of reasons, we are not there to judge what they have done and help them find their self worth again.

“Lives do change through faith and I have seen it happen. Some prisoners upon release went on to work in the ministry to help others.”

Joy dedicated ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’ to Reverend Canon Alan Richard Duce, who was the co-ordinating chaplain at Lincoln Prison and sadly died in 2006. Joy said he was a very knowledgeable and thorough man, who had a big impact on her career.

An extract from the book

“Finding a place of quiet in the prison was not always easy but the chapel offered respite and calm. It was used for services and various groups throughout the week.

“Prisoners would often request to go to the chapel to light a candle on hearing news of the death of a loved one. And because it was such a large area, the prison governor would occasionally hold staff meetings there.

“On entering the chapel, I quickly realised the riot had affected the whole prison in one way or another. Routine, as we knew it, had been severely impacted and allowances had to be made for disruption in every department…including the chapel.

“As I turned the key to enter, I looked over the vast expanse in amazement. What had been going on in here? The chapel had clearly been used as a base for prison officers and staff to conduct their meetings, and as a place to rest and eat during and after the disturbances.

“I guess they had more pressing things to do than keep the chapel tidy. Normally a chapel orderly would clean the space, but not at the moment! Ah well, I could pray as I went around picking up empty food containers, drink cartons, jackets and coats. And what was that? One shoe. Where was the other? I never did find it!

“I couldn’t imagine how officers and staff at the forefront of the disturbances felt. Many of them came from military backgrounds and this, together with Prison Service training, would leave them well equipped to handle trouble. Nevertheless, as in any conflict, there is always the unknown and unexpected waiting to happen.

“Understandably, many staff were traumatised, but specialised help and counselling was at hand, including support from the chaplaincy team. We were kept very busy, not only with staff at work but also home visits for those on sick leave.

“And then there were the 32 prisoners at Lincoln County Hospital, across the road from the prison. They were too sick to be moved to other jails at this time. They may have been injured during the riot or taken substances to make themselves unwell.”

Her book ‘An Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Chaplain’ is due to be launched on October 29, 2021. It is priced at £8.99 and will be available through the publishers directly here, as well as from Amazon, WH Smiths, Waterstones, and Lincoln-based Lindum Books. 

The Lincolnite has caught up with a Sleaford man who became the lead singer of T. Rex in the 90s and 00s – a week after he showed the band his Marc Bolan impression during a reunion gig he went to as a fan.

Rob Benson, a 60-year-old musician originally from Lincoln, had always been a big fan of notorious glam rockers T. Rex when he decided to watch Mickey Finn’s band in Northampton in 1998. Little did he know, that evening would change his life forever.

T. Rex are one of the most famous bands to ever emerge from the United Kingdom, with four number one singles in the 1970s and over 50 million album copies sold worldwide.

The centrepiece and foundation of the band was lead singer Marc Bolan, who founded T. Rex in 1967 and was the star of the show before his sudden death in a car crash in 1977.

The band split soon after losing its key cog, and it wasn’t until some 20 years later T. Rex decided to Get It On again.

In September 1997, to celebrate what would have been Marc Bolan’s 50th birthday, the former band members were invited to a reunion by their former tour manager Mick Gray.

It was the spark they all needed, and they decided to tour again under the name Mickey Finn’s T-Rex, due to the obvious lack of Bolan.

A year on from that, Finn and co. were playing a gig at the Chicago Rock cafe, a show which Rob Benson, living in Sleaford at this time, attended.

The band toured as Mickey Finn’s T-Rex when they returned in 1998.

“I was there as a fan”, he told The Lincolnite. “I did enjoy the gig, but I couldn’t help but feel there was something missing, the spirit of Marc Bolan was absent.

“I met the band after the gig and told them I could sing just like Marc, and they told me to send over a demo tape. They liked what they heard and invited me to rehearsals in the Isle of Wight.

“A week later I was performing at the Porsche festival in Germany in front of thousands of people, live on TV, as the lead singer of T. Rex. I didn’t know where to look. It was mad.”

Rob had gone from watching his heroes from the crowd to standing on stage performing with them in stadiums across the world, he was now a bonafide rock star. The largest crowd he performed to was 70,000 in a stadium in Germany.

“I was living a rock and roll dream, leather clad jackets and all.”

He continued: “It was utterly terrifying to start with, but Mickey and the rest of the guys were very helpful, we just built a chemistry up there on stage and eventually things were coming together great and I got more confident up there.

“I was truly thrown in at the deep end but I loved it. After that first show the stage manager walked into our room and said ‘great show guys’ then pointed at me and told me I looked like a scared rabbit! It was a very humbling experience.”

Rob saw the sights of stardom and got to hang around with countless celebrities during his time with the band, even befriending popular band Slade, but at that time it didn’t get much more famous than Oasis, the crown jewel of 90s Britpop.

Rob’s vocal resemblance to Marc Bolan caught the ears of not just his band members, but everyone who saw them perform.

“We did a festival in Copenhagen and were on the bill with Oasis, I got to spend the night partying with Liam Gallagher.

“Here I am, just an ordinary guy plunged into the world of show business, it was incredible.”

The good times kept rolling despite the death of the legendary conga player Mickey Finn in 2003, and Rob remained with the band until 2010, before he was replaced by current lead vocalist Jay Spargo.

Rob had the time of his life performing with T. Rex, a far cry from his previous work performing in pubs across Lincolnshire.

Rob now lives in Derbyshire, and before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he performed a couple of shows a year in Germany with The Classic Rock All-Stars, comprising of famous musicians from the 60s and 70s.

Reflecting on his whirlwind time, in the band he grew up adoring, Rob concluded: “98% of the time I spent in the band was just hanging about, meeting people, I got really close with the band members which felt normal at the time.

“I knew the songs off by heart, I was a huge fan, and here I was touring the world with them. It’s certainly one that’s been helpful to have on the CV!”