Boy, 13, who helped kill and rob man for his Rolex used weapons in Leeds jail to attack staff and inmates

The boy, who is now 17, was part of a gang that kicked Steven McMyler to death for his £11,000 watch in Lancashire in 2020 and was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob. He was given six years’ detention.

But Leeds Crown Court heard this week that the youngster, who still cannot be named because is under 18, has since attacked fellow inmates at Wetherby Youth Offender Institute, stabbed an officer with a homemade knife and threw a kettle of boiling water over three other officers in separate incidents.

He first joined in with a group attack in the exercise yard on March 10, 2022. While another inmate slashed the victim with a knife, the defendant then struck him with a deodorant can wrapped in a sock.

He then became embroiled in another exercise yard brawl on December 18, 2022, in which he punched an inmate to the head as others stabbed him, leaving the victim covered in blood.

The defendant was later searched and found to have a sharpened toothbrush with a cloth handle concealed between his buttocks.

During a one-to-one meeting on February 20, 2023, he let slip that he had weapons in his cell. Later that afternoon, officers came to search the cell, but he began throwing punches at the first officer through the door. Using another homemade weapon, he then stabbed the officer repeatedly in the thigh, his head and his stomach area.

He was eventually brought under control and they prised the sharpened piece of metal from his hand. Luckily the officer only had puncture wounds but the attack scarred him psychologically and he has since left the prison service.

Finally, on May 7 last year, when three officers came to his cell and unlocked his door to give him his lunch, he threw a kettle full of boiling water mixed with sugar at them. They were all taken to hospital with minor burns. He refused to be interviewed afterwards but it was thought he was angry because a meeting planned earlier that day had been cancelled.

The teenager later admitted two counts of affray, three counts of possession of an offensive weapon, and attempted Section 18 wounding and four assaults on emergency workers.

He was one of five people jailed for the horrific death of 34-year-old Mr McMyler in the garden of Wigan Parish Church. CCTV caught the sickening attack unfold. They did not know the father-of-two, but targeted him due to his expensive watch.

Mitigating, Matthew Stewart said the boy’s mother “shouldered the blame” for his offending.

He said: “She fully accepts she was a drug addict and in a violent relationship. He was exposed to that. It has had a significant impact on him. She accepts she was not there for him.”

Judge Penelope Belcher gave him 27 months’ detention, to run consecutively to his existing sentence. She told him: “What goes on from here is your choice. Yes, you had a difficult upbringing, but many people have and they don’t end up in custody for violent offending.”