Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

admitted pushing the officer and gave no value to the possibility that, according to his
version of events, he might have had cause to defend himself.
4.10 In a personal letter from Garth Hospital, Mr Lodge wrote that he lit a cigarette in
the hospital toilet, an officer came up behind him, the officer did not give him a chance to
put his hand to his mouth but punched him in the mouth, knocked the cigarette out of his
mouth, then rushed forwards and grabbed him by the throat. Mr Lodge said he could not
breathe and pushed the officer backwards.
4.11 The Rev Charlotte Lorimer, a chaplain at Manchester prison, gave evidence to
the Prison Service investigation and the inquest that Mr Lodge felt a strong sense of
injustice about the incident at Whiston. In her statement for the inquest, Ms Lorimer said
that Sonny told her that an officer entered the toilet and took hold of him by the throat
and he pushed the officer away.
4.12 Father McCann told the Prison Service investigation that Sonny claimed the
officer hit him. In evidence to the Prison Service investigation and the inquest, Father
McCann said that Sonny denied hitting the officer and that he was not violent and did not
commit violent crimes. The coordinating chaplain at Manchester, the Rev Brian Johnson
told the inquest Mr Lodge was adamant that he did not assault the officer and was not
guilty and that he always pleaded guilty if he had committed a crime.
4.13 Two of Mr Lodge’s fellow prisoners at Manchester, Mr Gray and Mr Davies, gave
evidence that Sonny had told them about the incident. Mr Gray was Mr Lodge’s cellmate
on G wing. He told the Prison Service investigation that Sonny claimed to have been
“stitched up” at Risley but there are no further details in the interview. The Coroner’s
notes indicate that, in oral evidence to the inquest, Mr Gray said Sonny told him briefly
about an incident at hospital and there was a rumour at Manchester. He said Sonny said
he tried to strike an officer to escape and two off-duty police intervened. Mr Gray also
said that Sonny Lodge said he did not hit an officer but had been “stitched up by what
had happened at the hospital”.
4.14 Mr Davies gave the Prison Service investigators and the Coroner’s officer an
account of his understanding of an incident in which Sonny said he was having a smoke,
the officer told him to put the cigarette out, he went to take another drag, the officer hit
him and, in the heat of the moment, he struck the officer back. Mr Davies places the
incident in a recess (washroom) area of Risley prison and says that Sonny headed out of
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