Teenage knife killer stabbed inmate in the face at Leeds detention centre
A teenager jailed for knifing a young man to death in a park has been given a new sentence for stabbing a prison inmate in the face during a frenzied attack.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is serving a 15-year sentence for the sickening 2022 West Midlands killing.
But while being held at Wetherby Young Offender Institute (YOI), he and another launched a planned attack on an inmate last year, stabbing him repeatedly to the face with makeshift knives.
The judge at Leeds Crown Court, Recorder Guy Kearl KC described it as a “vicious joint attack that was persistent and sustained”.
The court heard that the incident on December 6 last year was caught on CCTV.
The teenage defendant and his accomplice had climbed the stairs in the educational unit at the Wetherby institution when they launched at the victim.
The co-accused was the first to attack, with the defendant then jumping in, both of them aiming jabs to his head and face with their weapons.
When the victim fell to the floor, the co-accused kicked and stamped on him with the defendant continuing to stab him.
The victim was able to get to his feet and flee down the stairs, pursued by the pair, but they were stopped and overpowered by staff.
The 17-year-old defendant eventually handed over the makeshift knife, made from a sharpened chunk of plastic. His co-accused had a sharpened pen top.
The victim suffered three puncture wounds to his head and injuries to his hands. He did not wish to make a statement after the attack.
Mitigating, Charles Blatchford said there was “background”, that there had been some “pushing, shoving and provocation” from the victim.
His said his client had expressed remorse and disgust with himself for becoming involved.
Recorder Kearl told the boy he was a dangerous offender and said a consecutive sentence to his existing 15-year term for murder was appropriate.
He gave him three additional years, which will only begin once the 15-year sentence has been completed.
The boy had only just turned 15 when he and Brandon Price stabbed Jack Norton, also known as Jack Lowe, to death in a park in Darlaston, near Walsall, in December 2022.
Mr Norton, 18, had been shopping that day when he met his killers who plotted to fatally attack him.
Price, who was 19 at the time, was egged on by the younger defendant.
After delivering the fatal blow, the pair ran out of the park “celebrating”, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.