My name is Frank Wilkinson and I was convicted of murder in January 1987, a murder which I had neither knowledge of or involvement in. My appeal was refused by Lord Lane (whose strange decisions have since been discredited) in January 1988. A few months later another man made a signed statement in which he admitted committing the murder, how, where, when and why, and stating that I had nothing to do with it. I am still in prison and various Home Secretaries have refused to send the case back to the appeal courts.

     I have protested my innocence every day of the last 16 years, and the response of the Prison Service was to turn violent towards me. In the eight years from 1986 (my arrest) to 1994, I was moved from prison to prison, segregation to segregation, special unit to special unit, in excess of 40 times. I was beaten up on a regular basis, suffering physical damage. Police were called in to see my injuries and the Commission for the Prevention of Torture visited me in Wandsworth. When they saw me I could not speak; I had been knocked unconscious the day before and my throat was damaged. My answer to the commission’s questions were written down. A short while after that I was moved to Parkhurst, where I was beaten again on reception. In Parkhurst at one stage, I was naked, chained hand and foot, while a kind prison warder urinated on me.

     Through all of this abuse, eight years of it,I refused to admit to a crime I had not committed.

     In 1994 I was moved to Frankland prison where I started an education process. I gained a BA in Fine Arts, which I later upgraded to an MA. I also earned a First in English Language and Literature. I still maintained my innocence, but because of the involvement of Vicky King [then at the Prisoners Advice Service] monitoring my case and taking my treatment up with the Prison Service, the violence had ceased. From 1994 to 1999 I did not spend a day in the seg unit and was in Frankland all that time.

     I still maintained my innocence.

     In 1999 I was moved to Long Lartin prison and now I am in Full Sutton. Since 1994 I have written 21 novels, half of which are in the hands of a publisher.

     For some reason, after 16 years in prison and great strides forward in education and achievement, the prison here had decided that I must be a ‘Basic regime’ prisoner and I must admit my guilt. This I refuse to do.

     Since I have been made High Risk Cat A,I have effectively been stopped from further writing and I have not had a visit for over two years. I have only been stopped from writing since I came to Full Sutton.

     All of this despite the fact that the Prison Service, police and judiciary all know who committed the murder and that it wasn’t me. They want me to lie and say I did it. I will die before I do that.

     I need someone to help me, really I do.

     PS: It doesn’t matter what they do to me, they can’t stop me smiling.

Frank Wilkinson (R60852)
HMP Full Sutton
Moor Lane
York
YO4 1PS