Security staff sacked for tagging Rochdale man’s false leg

A private security firm has sacked two staff members after they tagged a Rochdale man’s prosthetic leg – allowing him to remove the tag and defy a court-imposed curfew.

Chris Lowcock, 29, tricked the two G4S employees by wrapping his false leg in a bandage when they set up the tag at his home.

Lowcock could then remove his tagged leg, meaning he could breach his court-imposed curfew for offences involving driving, drug offences and possession of an offensive weapon.

A second G4S officer who checked the equipment also failed to carry out the proper test.

Managers at the firm became suspicious last month, however, when they returned to the address a third time Lowcock had already been arrested, accused of driving while banned and without insurance.

A G4S spokesperson, said: “G4S tags 70,000 subjects a year on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

“Given the critical nature of this service we have very strict procedures in place which all of our staff must follow.

“In this individual’s case two employees failed to adhere to the correct procedures when installing the tag. Had they done so, they would have identified his prosthetic leg.

“Failure to follow procedure is a serious disciplinary offence, and the two employees responsible for the installation of the tag have now been dismissed”.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, said: "We expect the highest level of professionalism from all our contractors, and there are strict guidelines which must be followed when tagging offenders.

"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."