A ‘DANGEROUS’ inmate who attacked prison officers with makeshift weapons has been jailed for 20 years and must be approved for release by the Parole Board.

Daniel Matthews attacked eight prison officers, two prisoners and a governor at three different prisons including Worcestershire’s two main prisons – HMP Hewell and HMP Long Lartin.

The 28-year-old showed no emotion as he was sentenced over prison videolink at Worcester Crown Court on Friday for the attacks.

He used improvised stabbing weapons made from perspex (a shiv) and a bucket handle (a metal spike), boiling water and his fists to inflict puncture wounds and cause broken bones.

The defendant admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm against one prisoner and section 20 wounding against a second at HMP Hewell. The wounding involved Matthews slashing his victim in the face with a razor blade on April 10, 2017.

The injury required 26 stitches and the victim also suffered a broken nose, eye socket and bones in his hands during the attack.

The dad also punched a Hewell governor three or four times in the face, breaking his nose and causing two cuts to his face (assault occasioning actual bodily harm) on May 16, 2017.

The defendant had been convicted by a jury of the attacks on eight prison officers at HMP Long Lartin and HMP Bristol. In total he had 22 previous offences recorded against him, beginning in 2007, many of the offences for violence and including previous attacks on prison officers.

Further attacks happened at Long Lartin on February 23 last year when Matthews was placed on the segregation unit for 21 days. Matthews asked for a fresh flask of hot water which was brought to his cell.

Judge James Burbidge QC said the defendant had resolved to ‘vent’ his ‘anger and frustration’ on prison officers, throwing the flask at the cell door before attacking officers with a blade fashioned out of perspex, wounding with intent Gary Pattinson and Andreas Antoniou.

Mr Pattinson, a prison officer for 24 years, suffered what the judge called ‘penetrating wounds to his head’ and PTSD and anxiety and was declared unfit for duty, losing his job before retraining as an HGV driver.

On January 10 this year he attacker prison officers with another improvised weapon in HMP Bristol, this time a metal spike made out of a bucket handle with a grip made out of bedding and Sellotape. This was after he had previously told a female prison officer that he was going to carry out a ‘killing spree’ at the prison which was duly reported, leading to him being placed on the segregation unit.

During the attack itself he was described as raining down ‘hammer-like blows’ with the weapon, wounding Matthew Williams and Christopher Hawkins.

He also assaulted prison officers Darren Harvey, Liam Hutchinson, Nathan Joyce and Mitchell Hussey in the course of the struggle. Mr Williams suffered a fractured eye orbit but it was accepted that this was not caused by the weapon. Mr Hawkins, a prison officer for 21 years, suffered puncture wounds to his head and jaw and was rendered unconscious in the attack. One of the prison officers, Nathan Joyce, described Matthews as being ‘like a pneumatic drill’ in his use of the weapon and thought at one stage his colleague, Mr Hawkins, was dead.

Judge Burbidge said: “Mr Matthews must be clear that the courts will impose appropriate sentences on the attackers of those who are emergency workers in extremely difficult and delicate situations. They must see the courts are prepared to protect them.”

He also said Matthews had made ‘a scurrilous allegation that you had your neck knelt upon’.

“CCTV showed that to be false” said the judge. The defendant regarded prison officers as ‘criminals’.

Judge Burbidge said: “You are in my judgement a man of some intelligence. You have decided not to use that intelligence in any legitimate way by using it for stealth and connivance.”

However, he read a letter from Matthews’s partner who accepted he had anger management issues but also a loving and supportive family. He said Matthews would largely miss the life of his young child because of the custodial sentence imposed.

Judge Burbidge said he was satisfied that Matthews was dangerous but said he would step back from imposing a life sentence.

However, he said he deemed it necessary to impose an extended sentence.

The judge jailed him for 20 years and must spend two thirds of that sentence in prison before he is considered for release by the Parole Board. The judge imposed a three year extended licence period on the Bristol attack.