Inquiry over Soham suspect's bogus guard

The Prison Service wants to find out how tabloid reporter David McGee was given a post at the top security Woodhill Prison in Buckinghamshire and then told to guard Britain’s most high-profile prisoner. It comes on top of an existing investigation into how Huntley was able to take a drugs overdose in his cell.

After gaining a job in the prison service, Mr McGee, a reporter for the News of the World, was able to photograph Huntley in his cell and twice guarded him during his stint at the prison which began in April.

Mr McGee claimed yesterday that prison authorities failed to check his false address or bogus job reference before offering him a job, adding that he got it after "simply calling up the prison" and asking for a position. He said: "Within 13 weeks of starting training, and while I was still a rookie warder, I was the sole guard minding Huntley."

Huntley, 29, is on remand awaiting trial for the murders of ten-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in Soham, Cambridgeshire, last year. The girls disappeared on 4 August after being seen walking near their homes in Soham. Huntley denies both murders, and is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in October.

Maxine Carr, Huntley’s girlfriend, is facing a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. She is being held in Holloway Prison, London.

Mr McGee said he secured the job at the prison after giving the name of a convicted criminal as one of the references on his application form to test prison security procedures, but it was never picked up. He also claimed to have given a false home address and listed "a long-defunct firm" as a previous employer, both of which went unnoticed.

Managers at Woodhill failed to spot that he had the word "journalist" stamped in his passport, which he used as a proof of identity.

Prison industry groups claimed that acute underfunding and staff shortages could have led to the apparent security blunder but Mark Leech, the editor of the Prisons Handbook, yesterday called for Peter Atherton, deputy director general of the prison service, to resign.

He said: "It is time for the Prison Service to show it is serious about security in our maximum security prisons and do so in a way that leaves no doubt about the serious nature of these disasters. It’s time for Peter Atherton to accept he is not up to the job."

Last night Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, also expressed his concern at the security lapse. He said: "It’s extremely worrying but not surprising that the News of the World has been able to do this. Security clearance must be tightened up."

Steve Gillan, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said the incident was an "embarrassment" to the Prison Service and to government.

A Prison Service spokesman yesterday confirmed that the alleged breach of security had sparked a top-level inquiry. He said: "We are very concerned about the allegations in a Sunday newspaper that a reporter was employed at HMP Woodhill. The deputy director general has commenced an investigation which will be conducted by a senior manager from the prison service and will report to ministers as soon as possible."

Last Monday Huntley was taken to hospital after being found unwell in his cell. Prison sources said he had taken nearly 30 anti-depressant tablets, which he had hoarded in teabags. He was treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit and returned to Woodhill on Wednesday in a wheelchair.

Last night a Home Office spokesman said it had contacted the police to investigate the possibility that the journalist in question had broken the law by using false references to gain access to one of Britain’s toughest prisons.