Inmate 'sorry' for wounding guards

A triple killer who stabbed his prison guards apologised today for wounding three officers in a savage attack outside his cell.

However Kevan Thakrar accused prison officers of a "stitch-up" intended to ensure he spent the rest of his life behind bars.

The 24-year-old, who is on trial for attempted murder and wounding with intent, claimed there was a conspiracy of silence among prison staff with regard to assaults by prison officers on inmates.

The former student and shop assistant told a jury at Newcastle Crown Court prison officers operated according to a principal of "see no evil, hear no evil" when it came to their colleagues' "abuse of power".

He said he was denied food and sleep the night before he used a broken bottle of hot pepper sauce to maim officers Craig Wylde, Claire Lewis and Neil Walker at Frankland High Security Prison, County Durham, in March last year.

He said: "It is obviously wrong what happened, the individuals that have been hurt, and I am sorry for that, but it should not have come to that.

"If you put an animal in a cage and you poke it, poke it and poke it and then unlock the door it is not going to just sit there is it?"

He accused wardens of planting the empty bottle in his cell in the hope he would use it to harm himself.

He claimed it was part of a plot to prevent him from attending court to appeal against his conviction in 2008 for the murders of three men and attempted murder of two women in a drug dispute.

Cross examining, prosecutor Tim Gittins said had tried to kill officers Wylde and Lewis with the bottle.

He said: "It had chunky, thick glass and it was empty, ready to be made into a weapon.

"It was a nice, handy size to be used as a weapon, as a shank.

"You made it into a very effective weapon, one capable of inflicting fatal violence, didn't you?"

Thakrar, originally from Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, replied: "I was not in control.

"I was not thinking right.

"You're trying to imply I was capable of making rational decisions having not slept, having not eaten, and having all those thoughts running round in my head.

"I had been awake all night.

"I was ready to go home in a few weeks after my appeal.

"Why would I do that?

"I believed I was going home.

"I should have gone home."

The court heard Thakrar may have been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder at the time of the attack, as a result of his experiences in the British penal system since being locked up in 2007.

He denies all charges, saying he lashed out at the guards in self defence because he believed he was about to be attacked himself.

The trial continues tomorrow.

PA