Pensioner calls off jail hunger strike

Former Bingley farmer and horse breeder Norman Scarth, 77, ended his refusal to eat or drink at the private Wolds Prison on Humberside after two days.

Mr Scarth's brother, Jack Scarth, said the pensioner stopped his hunger strike after the jail authorities allowed him access to the prison computer he had wanted to use to prepare for legal cases he is trying to bring.

"They have started to allow him to use the computer so he is eating and drinking again," said Jack Scarth, 75, of Leeds. "He is very pleased to be now able to work on his appeals again."

Mr Scarth said the decision to allow his brother to use the computer followed a number of calls of complaint to the prison by friends of Norman.

But a spokesman for Group 4 Security, which runs the prison, said Norman Scarth now having access to the computer was not linked to his hunger strike.

He said: "He does now have access in the education area to a computer. This is something we have been aiming to establish for him for some time."

Mr Scarth, who served on Russian convoys in the Arctic during the Second World War, was jailed for six years after he was convicted of wounding a bailiff with intent as he was being evicted from the house where he was living in Leeds in 1999.

He was imprisoned two years ago but is planning a further appeal and is also bringing a claim for damages against West Yorkshire Police after alleging he was assaulted and injured by police officers.

Mr Scarth, who bred stallions at the Ravenroyd stud farm at Bingley for more than 20 years, weighs less than eight stones after losing four stones since he was jailed.

He told the Telegraph & Argus when he embarked on his hunger strike on Monday that he had had nothing but water, sugar, salt and an ounce of porridge a day for the previous four weeks.

He said then: "It is my absolute right in law to have access to a computer. I don't want to starve myself but I am prepared to die for this.