Criminal

Overview

Teenager Simon Willerton's suicide in 1990 brought to six the number of young prisoners who hanged themselves in British prisons in just over six months. It prompted a public debate over conditions in remand prisons and Armley in particular, where overcrowding had reached such a level that prison officers refused to admit any new inmates. Simon faced a burglary charge over the theft of a hot-water bottle from an unoccupied flat.