Mark Bridger prison attack: Inmate's life sentence doubled for slashing April Jones killer in attempt to make him reveal where body is hidden

Convicted murderer and rapist attacked Bridger with knife fashioned out of razor at top security prison

Mark Bridger (left) and Juvinai Ferreira (PA)

A prisoner has had his life sentence doubled after he slashed murderer Mark Bridger from temple to chin in an attempt to get him to reveal where missing April Jones' body is hidden.

Convicted rapist and murderer Juvinal Ferreira attacked Bridger at Wakefield Prison in July this year using a knife fashioned from prison-issue razor blades to sever an artery in the child killer's head.

The 24-year-old, who was born in Guinea and grew up in Gambia, was sentenced to a second life sentence at Leeds Crown Court and had five years added to his minimum term, meaning he will not be released before 2036.

Ferreira and other life prisoners are said to have discussed attacking Bridger to make him reveal the whereabouts of April's body, police were told.

Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said: "He said that Bridger's crime had been discussed, and he claimed people had suggested that if Bridger was attacked, rather than say befriended, Bridger would then be more likely to reveal where April Jones's body was."

Mr Sharp said: "The defendant saw him and walked directly up to him with the blade held between thumb and forefinger... He then slashed him down the face, causing a deep wound extending from temple to chin... He paused for a moment and looked Bridger directly in the eyes, in Bridger's own words 'as if to admire his work or show me who it was'."

The child killer needed 30 stitches and surgery under general anaesthetic for the face wound. He will be scarred for life.

Mr Justice Coulson, who sentenced Ferreira over a videolink, said the motive for the attack was no mitigation.

"Convicted murderers cannot appoint themselves as unpaid investigators of another crime, no matter how serious. They plainly cannot do that by themselves committing violent crime to do so."

Robin Frieze, defending, said Ferreira did not attack Bridger to enhance his own status in prison, for reward or because he was incited to do it.

Mr Frieze added: "He does not suggest he was put up to it, but he listened to talk within the prison and he was under the impression that if he put the complainant in a state of fear then it was more likely it would achieve closure for the family of his victim...He appreciates that was a wholly misguided and wrong thing to do."

When the judge told Ferreira he was about to be sentenced, the life prisoner replied: "No problem."