Winston Hall: Catch Me If You Can
Last week we told the story of Winston Hall’s unfair murder charge as well as his torture by the police in order to extract a confession from him and his comrades Peter Bradshaw, Errol Bradshaw and David Oliver. This murder of Cyril Sisnett was an extremely high profile one and no doubt influenced both the court and the police involved in the trial. We then explained his daring escape from the clutches of the police and his remarkable run from the law that lasted over four years in two different countries. However, Winston Hall’s story only gets crazier from here.
Winston Hall aka Tony Prophet
Ramsay, Kim L. Barbados' Most Wanted. Barbados: Kim Ramsey, 2018. Pg 85
After he had finally been caught in 1989, he was finally tried and sentenced to death like Peter Bradshaw and David Oliver and was remanded to HMP Glendairy. Unlike his associates he was slapped with a second murder charge for the June 15th 1988 murder of Gerald Palmer at Clifton Plantation while he was still on the run. There was not much evidence for this claim, only a fingerprint that simply placed Winston Hall at the house, however circumstantial evidence, his notoriety and the justice system’s disdain for him was enough for a conviction (Ramsey pg 76). Despite this he was still adored by the population.
Prison was a horrible place in general and horrible to him in particular, his infamy and small size subjected Winston Hall to challenges from both the prisoners and the guards. Peter Bradshaw would later recount that Superintendent Hendy was a cruel man who enacted both physical and psychological violence against the prisoners. Bradshaw claims that the prisoners were sometimes denied their daily hour of exercise and he did not even have a bed in his cell. Bradshaw claims that previous superintendents would assure the prisoners that gallows inspections were only inspections. Hendy however would insinuate that their time had come in order to scare them (Adams pg 106-107). This prison did little if any to reform prisoners and upon release, it is little wonder why many who enter come out violent men.
Winston Hall spent four years in prison before he escaped, this one far more thought out and planned than his first. Winston Hall, David Oliver, Peter Bradshaw and convicted murderer Denzil Roberts escaped on September 5th 1991 by sawing the hinges off of their jail cells and forcing themselves into an open area, climbing the walls and escaping to freedom. The two guards posted in the max security were taken out by the prisoners. The first Samuel Headley, was beaten unconscious by the four inmates, with Peter Bradshaw stabbing him with a file and Hall swinging a cricket bat. The second guard Elvis Harewood was similarly overpowered and tied up in the bathroom as the men scaled the wall and made their escape.
This escape was as much a product of their ingenuity as it was of the incompetence of the institution designed to contain them. The faulty prison equipment led to power outage on the night of their escape. Additionally, only 14 of the required 25 guards were on duty, a regular occurrence as Superintendent Hendy explained during the inquiry that they simply did not have enough guards employed to run a 25 man, 24 hour detail (Adams pg 95). Furthermore, it was discovered that the security monitors in the maximum-security area were not working, which according to assistant superintendent Louis Harewood was never reported. Most importantly a prisoner had complained to a guard on multiple occasions about sawing in the cells but this was never even reported, much less investigated. Whilst Samuel Headley was soundly beaten and speaking ‘mumbo jumbo’ when his colleagues woke him up (Adams pg 113), Elvis Harewood had managed to free himself from his bindings and overcome with fear, retied himself and attempted to crawl his way to the bathroom door and whisper for help from the other guards, who could not hear him or see anything but a hand beckoning them (Adams pg 107).
Once more Peter Bradshaw and company were caught relatively quickly, once more Winston Hall had disappeared into the wind. He could not return to St. Vincent, so he headed south landing in Tobago as Tony Prophet with nothing of real value except his bracelet. He had it pawned to some local men as collateral for a TT$75 loan but they refused to return it when he produced the money. However, a Rastafarian man by the name of Beebie of the Bobo Shanty Tribe intervened, procuring Winston’s bracelet (Ramsey pg 84).
Veronica Lawrence
Ramsay, Kim L. Barbados' Most Wanted. Barbados: Kim Ramsey, 2018. Pg 85
Once again, it was quite common for Barbadian drifters to find themselves in Trinidad and Tobago, as it was in St Vincent. As Beebie talked to Winston, he would later recount in Georgina Adams’ book he felt as if Winston needed guidance and as a fellow Rastafarian, invited him to live in the Rastafarian community of Sans Soucci in Trinidad with his nephew Richard Madoo. Prison had changed Winston, and not for the better. Sans Soucci residents detested him. While he maintained his quiet silent personality, he turned to explosive anger whenever he was challenged. Madoo explained that Winston attempted to take over his and Beebie’s marijuana operation, he often fought with the villagers, threatening them with a cutlass he sharpened on both sides which carried with him everywhere, resting it by his head even while he slept (Ramsey pg 85). Hall yearned for a family, even attempting to woo Madoo’s common-law wife. This was the last straw for Richard Madoo and he kicked him out of his house (Ramsey pg 85).
Veronica Lawrence 50 years to his 34 would prove to be his undoing. After he left Madoo, he moved with her to the village of Guapo, Deep South, an even more isolated village. Veronica Lawrence shared Winston’s desire for a family, two of her four children, daughters age 10 and 13 lived with their father Carl Dickson, and Lawrence told Winston of her desire to house them under the same roof. It did not matter to Winston Hall that the reason the girls’ father Carl Dickson had taken them was because their mother had not sent them to school for three months. They accosted Dickson at his home demanding to take the daughters. Hall brandished his cutlass threatening to kill Mr. Dickson, to chop him up and to burn his house, however the father was not intimidated.
He had only been in Guapo for 6 months, yet the villagers hated him. He stole constantly, fruits, ground provisions and clothes. When questioned, he exploded into angry threats, he hit children and was prepared to fight their parents. He consistently threatened Dickson until Veronica’s own daughters were afraid of him and Dickson filed a report to the police. Too little to late, Mr. Dickson came home one night to his house aflame, a fleeing Hall in the distance. He had waited until no one was home and torched his rival’s house (Ramsey pg 86)
Winston Hall in Custody
Ramsay, Kim L. Barbados' Most Wanted. Barbados: Kim Ramsey, 2018. Pg 81
He was now a wanted man, but the Trinidadian police had never experienced a criminal like Winston Hall, at least not in Guapo. Ryan Ali, a Trinidadian police man indicated that they were aware of Tony Prophet as they had been attempting to confront Hall about his violence against children, now they were more determined than ever (Ramsey pg 87). Their first attempt ended in failure as they discovered he had booby trapped his partner’s yard with hidden barbed wire, in addition he would spend days in the brush while the officers watched the house. Unfortunately, he was not dealing with Barbadian police. Whether it be arrogance due to his success as a runaway or simple underestimation due to his experience with Barbadian police, unlike his other chases this lasted all of two weeks. He had returned to his home far too relaxed for an arsonist and on May 8th 1998 Officers Ali and Carl Hector caught him unawares in the bottom of a bunk bed with his partner. Though he was a man of slight build, the officers recount that he fought like a man far bigger, it took four men to subdue him, though once he was apprehended, he became much more reserved (Ramsey pg 87). Upon his arrest he gave the name Tony Prophet and was held for 39 days in Trinidad’s Golden Grove Prison. When he was told that he would be tried in Trinidad and could be sentenced to life in Trinidad, he demanded an extradition, telling the law of his uncle Grantley Hall from Suriname, St Joseph. If he had not mentioned his uncle’s name he might have escaped. The Barbadian High Commission deduced his identity and his prints only confirmed it. On July 18th 1998 he returned to Barbados in handcuffs once more, between the time of his escape and his arrest for arson he had spent 2,349 days a free man.
After Winston Hall returned to HMP Glendairy, on July 20th 1998, Superintendent George Clarke insisted that special measures had been taken in maximum security and unless Hall had a pact with Houdini, Winston Hall would never escape again. Tune in again to read how Winston Hall escaped again.
Bibliography
Adams, Georgina. Winston Hall Guilty or Innocent?: A True Life Story. Barbados: Georgiana Adams, 2006.
Ramsay, Kim L. Barbados' Most Wanted. Barbados: Kim Ramsey, 2018.