Domenyk Noonan, 42, is part of the notorious Manchester- based Noonan clan, who openly bragged “they had more guns than police”.The Frankland jail inmate has been receiving treatment at Durham’s University Hospital for acute pancreatitis.
At least two police officers brandishing machine guns have been on guard at all times, while dog sections have patrolled the grounds.The families of patients there have been stunned to discover they have been sharing hospital facilities with Noonan, jailed after a gun and five bullets were discovered in his car in Darlington, County Durham.Helping a friend to her chemotherapy appointment, mum-of- three Elizabeth Simmons, of Tunstall, Sunderland, said: “It’s frightening. You wouldn’t know he’s here, but people should be told.“If you’re talking about ‘Mr Big’ here they’ve got no chance of getting him out of Frankland, but the hospital is so much more open.“I’d be much happier if all these prisoners could be treated in prison, or even some kind of mobile hospital unit.Noonan, who has changed his surname to Lattlay-Fottfoy, was sentenced to nine and a half years in December 2005, for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
His family achieved notoriety in the early 1990s following a series of gangland killings in Manchester.Maureen Boddan, 63, of Kelloe, County Durham, who is being treated for glaucoma at the hospital, said: “I’m just not very happy knowing he’s in there. It makes you feel afraid. It’s the idea of his associates coming to try and get him out.”A spokesperson from Durham Constabulary confirmed: “Police are providing armed guard on a prison inmate, who is currently receiving hospital treatment in Durham.”Noonan’s hospital stay follows that of al Qaida mastermind Dhiren Barot, admitted to the RVI in Newcastle last July after boiling water and oil were thrown on his head by a fellow inmate at Frankland.In January, convicted killer Lee Nevins, 24, of Gateshead, sparked a nationwide manhunt after he gave police the slip at Sunderland Royal Hospital. He was on the run for six days.A Prison Service spokesperson said: “A prisoner at HMP Frankland is currently being treated at an outside hospital. We do not comment on individuals.”