As a former inmate of HMPs Belmarsh, Standford Hill and Elmley, Jonathan Aitken has made many good friends behind bars but now he believes the inhabitants of Wormwood Scrubs may have helped save the life of his wife, Elizabeth.
Two months ago, after Elizabeth was struck down by a brain haemorrhage, she underwent four brain operations at Charing Cross Hospital.
“She made a miraculous recovery, thanks to a brilliant team of surgeons, with no brain damage,” says Aitken, 70. “But I can’t help feeling it was partly due to the power of prayer.
“On the day she collapsed I had a call from Alethea Malcolm-Lamont, pastor of Wormwood Scrubs, where I had recently given two talks, and I told her Elizabeth was in a life-and-death situation. She said she would ask everyone to pray for her and she later sent Elizabeth a huge get-well card with the signatures of about 50 prisoners who had heard me preach. She told me everyone was praying for her.”
“I am so delighted,” Pastor Alethea tells me. “The men will be so pleased. When we informed them in the chapel of Elizabeth’s recovery, they stood up and clapped their hands with praise. God is still in business — this is a story of hope and encouragement.”
Former Cabinet minister Jonathan, who was jailed for perjury in 1999 and served seven months, is the author of Porridge and Passion, Pride and Perjury and Psalms for People under Pressure, so he’s a prisoner with a capital “P”. He has just finished a personal biography of Margaret Thatcher, due out in October.
