Dad-of-five spent 100 days in one of Africa's most dangerous jails

HE AND COLLEAGUE PUSHED TO THE BRINK IN ORDEAL

- By OWEN HUGHES

A BLAENAU Ffestiniog dad of five is heading home after spending 100 days in one of Africa’s most dangerous prisons.

Paul Inch, 50, and Richard Perham, 29 of Bristol, had travelled to Guinea to support the recovery of equipment from a high-altitude research balloon. It was meant to be a simple four-day job.

But within days, they were arrested and accused of espionage, sedition, breaching national defence, and violating airspace by the authorities charges that were entirely unfounded.

The men were imprisoned in Conakry Central Prison, a facility operating at 475% of its capacity and notorious for inhumane conditions.

Richard and Paul were locked into a swelteringly hot, overcrowded cell the size of a railway carriage, with individuals convicted of violent crimes. There was no space for personal belongings. The only toilet was a single latrine shared by the entire cell holding 80 inmates.

They slept head-to-toe on a single mattress, locked in a dark cell beside violent offenders. The water burned their skin. Rats crawled over them at night.

They were extorted, threatened with sexual and physical violence, and pushed to the brink. To avoid being transferred to an even more violent section of the prison, they were forced to make regular extortion payments to prisoners and staff.

The prison was infested with rats, cockroaches and mosquitoes.

The water was so contaminated they had to disinfect their skin after washing.

Both men suffered dehydration, gastrointestinal illness, and skin infections.