'Vicious' teenager repeatedly stabbed inmate in the face during bloody YOI Wetherby assault

Mason Ireland was so determined to inflict serious injury that he held onto the victim’s coat to prevent him from fleeing as he aimed the blows towards his head and face.

The 19-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where he admitted a charge of affray and possession of a weapon.

It was heard that Ireland had been in the exercise area at the Wetherby young offender institute at around 4pm on January 20, when he was seen to walk towards the victim and strike up a conversation.

But out of nowhere, he then lunged at him, grabbing his coat with one hand and stabbing him repeatedly with the other. The knife was made from a chunk of sharpened plastic with a cloth handle.

Prison officers intervened but the victim suffered several injuries to his face that required stitching. No complaint was made by the victim against Ireland which prosecutor Ellie Guildford said was “common with these types of offences”.

Ireland was interviewed and shown the CCTV which captured the attack, but he gave no comments.

He was serving a five-year jail sentence for GBH with intent from 2021, which he carried out when he was just 15.

Mitigating, Oliver Norman said that Ireland had entered an early guilty plea, and that immaturity was an issue. He said he only had a short time left to serve from his previous sentence but had been using his time in detention “productively”, taking educational courses.

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He said Ireland wanted to gain employment on his release and support his two-year-old child and needed the “opportunity to reset his life”.

Judge Simon Phillips KC told Ireland, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Lindley in Lancashire: "This was clearly a vicious and persistent attack - you were aiming for the face and head.

"It's clear you were determined to inflict pain and injury, holding onto him so he could not back off. The blows were close to his eyes.”

He jailed him for 20 months.