A young prisoner serving life for an horrific murder when he was 13 years old was back in court for attacking a fellow inmate.
Jamie Smith is behind bars after admitting kicking and punching a helpless man to death and then throwing his lifeless body on a bonfire in Birkenhead.
He received a life sentence with a minimum term of 13 years in April 2008 for the murder of Stephen Croft whose charred remains were found on Bonfire Night 2007.
Smith has now been back before Liverpool crown court accused of assault while serving his time at Hindley prison near Wigan.
Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, told the court that on December 14 last year he and another prisoner attacked fellow inmate Mark Ormisher.
He said the victim was walking up some steps to a corridor in the education block but when he neared the top of the stairs Kenny McDonald punched him to the face causing him to stumble backwards. He then recovered and continued along the corridor.
Mr Parry-Jones added: “As he was walking along Smith came from behind and punched him to the head knocking him to the floor. McDonald followed and kicked him to the face. The two of them had been waiting for him, he was targeted.”
The victim was taken to hospital where it was found he had suffered a broken jaw and he had to undergo surgery to wire it up. It required him to be on a liquid diet for eight weeks.
When asked what happened he said it was to do with an incident outside the prison but refused to make a statement.
Mr Parry-Jones told the court that each month there are 60 incidents in prisons “deemed to be serious. 97% are dealt with internally and 3% are referred to the police.”
21-year-old Smith from Birkenhead and McDonald, 20, of Victoria House, Prescot, both pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.
Smith was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment to run concurrently with the sentence he is serving, which may impact on when the Parole Board decides he is safe to be released.
McDonald was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.
As a 13-year-old Smith had been on the run from a care home at the time he murdered 34-year-old Stephen Croft after drinking cider and vodka.
Mr Croft was described as a popular man who had become an alcoholic after an industrial accident and had been defenceless when attacked.
HIs charred remains were found on a bonfire on waste land in Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/