Mobster Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh’s days in a cushy private prison are soon set to come to an end - after he was handed down a 21 year sentence this week.
Kavanagh (54), who was up until recently the Kinahan cartel’s top man in the UK, has been locked up in HM Prison Dovegate, a relatively low security ‘Category B’ jail near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire - where he was being offered everything from charity runs for Ukraine to art classes and ‘animal therapy.’
Dovegate, which is being operated by private company Serco, states that it takes in prisoners serving four years and over - with at least 18 months left to serve.
Read more: Thomas 'Bomber’ Kavanagh could be forced to pay up millions in new criminal assets case
Prison officials and the UK's Crown Prosecution Service have refused to disclose any of Kavanagh's potential movements, due to data protection laws.
And while it is understood records show that Kavanagh was still housed in HM Dovegate this week, it is understood his days in such a facility are now numbered.
Sources say the hefty 21 sentence he has received for conspiracy to import drugs will mean Kavanagh will have to be transferred to a maximum security prison in the near future.
Before then he was serving a three year sentence - making him eligible to be housed in Dovegate.
His new sentence means the ruthless criminal, who sat close to the top of the Kinahan cartel, will likely no longer enjoy some of the freedoms enjoyed by prisoners at Dovegate.
In recent times HM Dovegate has even advertised some of these activities on its social media page - including a so-called ‘Jailcraft service’ in which prisoners engage in an art class to make special occasions cards for family members.
Art packs were supplied to the prisoners in November of last year “so that they can make their own cards,” HM Dovegate said in a Tweet.
“Prisoners maintaining their family ties is crucial for their rehabilitation,” they added.
Meanwhile more recently prisoners were able to participate in a run, walk or jog challenge on treadmills in the prison gym - to raise money to support the Ukrainian people.
Staff and prisoners were running a total of over 2,600 kilometres – the distance between HMP Dovegate and Kyiv, this month.
And in December, some prisoners were able to take part in a ‘charity single,’ - and were able to purchase it.
The prison also bizarrely doubles as a hedgehog sanctuary.
The small prison previously made headlines when it emerged several hedgehogs living at the sanctuary - dubbed ‘HMP Hog Gate’ - had escaped.
Luckily for Kavanagh, prisoners are generally housed at HMP Dovegate if they are considered not to be of the highest threat.
It has been home however to a number of murderers and terror suspects, and has just over 1,000 prisoners in all.
Kavanagh was serving a three year sentence there for possessing an unlawful firearm - namely a stun-gun disguised as a torch, that was found in the kitchen of his heavily fortified home in January of last year.
But his new conviction will likely mean the cushy conditions he has become accustomed to are soon at an end.
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