An inmate who now admits repeatedly stabbing a fellow prisoner with an improvised bladed weapon at a top security jail could receive a life sentence. Daniel Service is to be assessed for the level of “dangerousness” he poses before being sentenced for the attack, carried out in the victim’s cell at Frankland Prison, Durham, on January 7, last year. Prison staff alerted to the attack arrived at the cell to find Service kneeling on top of the other inmate, thrusting a fashioned bladed weapon down upon the victim.
He was told to stop and did so, saying: “I’m done”. (Image: The Northern Echo) The now 32-year-old inmate, who has since been transferred to HMP Whitemoor, in Cambridgeshire, denied a charge of wounding with intent at a plea hearing at Durham Crown Court, on August 1 last year. He claimed he was acting in self-defence, and a trial date was set, initially for late November last year.
But with his revised trial date of July 29 this year approaching, the case came back before the court, with the defendant appearing via video link from HMP Whitemoor. Service’s counsel Rabah Kherbane asked if the charge could be put to his client once more. The defendant, this time, pleaded guilty, negating the need for the trial later this month.
(Image: The Northern Echo) Emma Mitten, prosecuting, said the defendant does have a previous offence of wounding with intent on his record. Recorder Mark Giuliani, therefore, said he would require a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
