Pair sacked for putting tag on false leg

Private security firm G4S has sacked two members of staff who tagged a man's false leg allowing him to remove it and break a court-imposed curfew. The pair were fooled by Christopher Lowcock, 29, who wrapped the prosthetic limb in a bandage when G4S set up the system at his Rochdale home.

He was then able to remove the limb and break a curfew imposed for offences involving drugs, driving and a weapon. G4S sacked the pair for committing a serious disciplinary offence, it said.



In a statement the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said procedures "were clearly not followed in this case and G4S have taken action against the staff involved. Two thousand offenders are tagged every week and incidents like this are very rare."

G4S revealed managers became suspicious last month but when they returned to Lowcock's home he had been returned to custody accused of a driving-related offence. The company revealed the second employee who went to check on the monitoring equipment at Lowcock's home was also sacked for failing to realise he had fooled them into tagging his false leg.