By Adam Everett Steve Bagnall
A prisoner from North Wales threw a kettle filled with boiling water over his sleeping cellmate, during a row over a vape. Danny Smith’s victim was left writhing in agony following the brutal behind bars assault, which happened at HMP Altcourse, before he alleged his victim was “going to kill him”.
The attack came after the serial offender had been placed into the same cell as another inmate, despite long standing warnings against such a practice. A judge yesterday “urged” him to seek support for his mental health “for his own sake,” reports the ECHO.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday afternoon that Smith and Paul Guest had been sharing a cell at Altcourse prison before the two “fell out”, when the latter refused to allow the former to use his vape. At around 2.30am the following day, July 27 2023, the complainant awoke on the bottom bunk in “intense pain”.
Sarah Gruffydd, prosecuting, described how he meanwhile found Smith, who is of no fixed address but originally from North Wales, beside the door of their cell pressing an emergency alarm and shouting “he’s going to kill me”. The two men then became involved in a scuffle, at which stage Guest “realised he had been swilled” after noticing a kettle on its side on a table with traces of sugar on it.
The boiling water had been poured over his left arm and neck, resulting in scalding in both areas. He was subsequently treated at Whiston Hospital and left with “light scarring” on his upper arm and hearing difficulties as a result of a perforated eardrum.
The altercation was ultimately broken up by the arrival of prison officers, at which stage Smith confessed to the guards that he had assaulted Guest “because he wouldn’t let him use his vape”. The 34-year-old has a total of 65 previous convictions for 123 offences, including robbery, and had been “back and forth into custody” around the time of the incident.
Andrew McInnes, defending, told the court: “He has been effectively in custody since the incident. He has been out and back in again. He has served a significant period for other offences since.
“There was something on his record, perhaps suggesting that he should not have been in the same cell as anybody else, as far back as 2017. He was very unwell and was medicated soon after this incident.”
Mr McInnes added of his client’s plans upon his eventual release: “He will go back to Bangor. He will be sofa surfing. He hopes that he will get another prescription, but he will have to find somewhere to get it.
“He does have some contact with his mother. He says, at the moment, that he is motivated to stay out of trouble, to take his medication and to try to move forward, but there is very little in place to help him when he gets out.”
Smith admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool wearing a grey t-shirt with a navy jumper around his shoulders, he was jailed for 16 months.
Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: “There was some sort of argument about a vape. You are somebody who finds it difficult to share a cell. It has been recognised that you have should not have been sharing a cell.
“I do infer that you were suffering from some form of psychotic condition at the time. You have 123 previous offences on your record from 65 previous convictions. It is an aggravating feature that you committed this while in prison. It is a mitigating feature that it happened two years ago now.
“I suspect that you will not have very much more to do. Most of all, it is up to you. If you want to stay out of prison and stop wasting your life going in and out of prison, you are going to have to find somewhere to live and make sure that you are signed up to a GP to make sure that you get your prescription.
“Without that, you will relapse and end up back in prison. I urge you, for your own sake, the make sure that is sorted out when you come out.”
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