A man who stabbed his fellow inmate was suffering from paranoid thoughts at the time of the offence, a court heard.
Daniel Berry, 33, of no fixed abode, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday for one count of unlawful wounding and one count of unlawful possession of a bladed article in prison. A court heard that in HMP Altcourse on November 22, 2021 Berry launched an unprovoked attack on fellow inmate Dean Kenton with a makeshift weapon.
Francis Wilmot, prosecuting, detailed that Berry had been in his cell prior to the incident and believed he heard the person outside his cell, Dean Kenton, making threats towards him. He was given the weapon by another inmate on the same prison wing as he was scared Mr Kenton would attack him.
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Berry left his cell at around 4.30pm, and apparently was not expecting to see Mr Kenton but when he did, said he got “scared” and assaulted him. CCTV of the attack was shown in court, and showed Berry walking past the victim talking to another prisoner behind a cell block door.
Berry suddenly lunged at Mr Kenton, making repeated stabbing attempts, with such force the victim fell to the floor. Ms Wilmot said: “He assaulted him to the face without saying anything.”
He continued the assault, and punched and kicked the other inmate while he was on the ground. Security at the prison heard the incident and intervened to break the men apart.
The bladed weapon was found on the floor shortly after and identified as a hinge with a nail point attached. Mr Kenton shouted “he has stabbed me” as officers approached and saw blood on the back of his head plus a puncture wound to his face.
The complainant refused to cooperate and did not want to file a complaint so a full medical report could not be shown in court. He told officers “That’s not how I go, I will sort it myself.”
Ms Wilmot said: “Prior to this incident, there was a marked deterioration of Mr Berry’s mental health”. Berry, who was transferred to Ashworth hospital in summer 2022, kept his head down during proceedings and was accompanied by five members of staff from the high-security psychiatric hospital in the dock.
He has 35 previous convictions for 79 offences, including several counts of assault causing actual body harm, attempted robbery, assaulting an emergency worker, and most recently in October 2021, common assault. Ms Anna Duke, defending, explained that her client has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia, and was suffering from paranoid thoughts at the time of the offence.
She said: “During these proceedings, it was quite clear his mental health had deteriorated.” In sentencing, His Honour Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: “You have a bad record for violent offending and it does seem in particular that there is an extensive history of you being violent in a custodial setting involving people of authority.
“But in so far as this incident is concerned, it was a fellow prisoner.” He added: “You carried on punching and kicking him when he was on the ground.”
Judge Trevor-Jones gave Berry a section 37 hospital order with no restrictions.
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