Tortured neighbours of scandal-hit prison where cars are firebombed, drugs dumped over walls and female guards fall in love with inmates say it is like living next to a ‘nest of vipers’

Neighbours next to a scandal-hit prison dubbed Britain’s ‘Wild West’ jail have claimed it is like living next to a ‘nest of vipers’, MailOnline can reveal.

Tortured locals have complained HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Greater Manchester is like the ‘Wild West’ with cars being firebombed, drugs dropped over the wall and gangsters’ molls visiting in plush cars.

In the latest scandal, a female guard has just been moved off one of the wings over an alleged ‘inappropriate relationship with a jailed former police officer.

There have been a number of escape attempts from prisoners with one dressing up as a teacher in a bid fool prison guards, while in 2019 four armed men bungled an attempt to spring a drugs king-pin from the jail. 

Staff cars have also been targeted by thugs, with one prison officer’s car torched in an arson attack last November following a spate of attacks in 2022, which saw six cars vandalised in the prison car park. 

But people living near the men’s prison have said it also has a reputation for sex attacks and scandals, violence, arsonists targeting staff cars and widespread drug use. 

Dog walker Aaron Mills, 46, said: ‘That prison is like the Wild West – there’s always something going on. People have used drones to drop stuff over the walls or even thrown it over in socks. And you see all the women visiting – they park up in fancy cars. A lot of them have had plastic surgery or are tottering around on heels. They do their make-up in the cars.’

Mother-of-two Susan Hill, 59, said: ‘There’s always something going on. Whether it’s escapes, drug overdoses in the prison or sex attacks on inmates. A while ago two men on a motorbike torched some prison officers cars.

‘It’s like living next door to a nest of vipers. It’s shocking. It doesn’t feel the safest place.  You sometimes here people screaming. They take drugs and then attack each other.’

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: ‘The place really does need sorting.

‘A while ago, someone seemed to escape every few weeks and there have been arson attacks on cars. It needs stamping out.’

Last year a former guard at the prison was jailed for three years for also having an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.

Joanne Hunter, 28, conducted the relationship with Connor Willis while working at Forest Bank.

Hunter – described as ‘naïve’ and ‘vulnerable’ in court – believed Willis was ‘in love’ with her and agreed to smuggle packages, including cannabis, into prison for him. She also sent him explicit photographs, which were later found on her phone.

Another female prison officer working at the prison was recently moved from her wing after she was accused of striking up an relationship with an inmate. 

Former police officers James Riley, 28, enjoyed several perks as a result of the fling, including a job and extra time out of his cell. 

Thug Riley was jailed for 16 years last week after trying to trying to kill his ex-partner Ellie Moxham by throttling her and putting a plastic bag over her head. 

In September last year, sex offender Katana Paris who identifies as a woman, admitted groping two prison officers while being served food in a cell. Paris, 27, who was part way through a three-year sentence at the time for attacking a nurse, assaulted the male and female staff members Forest Bank in 2022.

The inmate admitted two counts of sexual assault at Manchester Crown Court and was handed a further six-month sentence.

In November last year a prison officer’s car was torched in an arson attack in the car park. It was the latest in a number of attacks on staff cars.

In 2022 vandals damaged three cars which followed a similar wrecking spree in July 2022 when another three cars were vandalised.

There have been numerous reports into overcrowding at the jail as well as drug overdoses, sex attacks and rape.

In May last year one inmate tried to escape by disguising himself as a teacher and in 2019 four masked men armed with a sawn-off shotgun bungled an attempt to spring a drugs king-pin from the jail.