Arsonist prisoner left inmate in pool of blood with shoe print on temple in vicious cell attack

A prisoner who sat waiting in another inmate's cell, before launching a vicious attack, has had another sentence added to his 11 years.

Robert Wilkinson, 31, punched the Holme House Prison inmate to his nose, causing the man to fall back and lose consciousness. The prisoner described "the room going black and seeing bright white stars" on February 14, 2022.

When the victim came round, he was lying in blood, and he had a shoe print on his right temple. His nose was bleeding and he was left with abdominal pain, which he said lasted for two months.

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Wilkinson had slipped into the victim's cell at the Stockton prison when the prisoner had gone out to get his medication.

Wilkinson was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, after standing trial at Teesside Magistrates' Court and was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.

In mitigation, Calum McNicholas told the court that Wilkinson carried out the assault before he was handed an 11-year sentence for arson. He posted a lit firework through a woman's letterbox in Shotton Colliery, East Durham. The woman managed to escape but fire spread throughout her house.

Mr McNicholas said that Wilkinson is now in a wheelchair "having perpetrated a very very severe form of self-harm. He is very troubled."

Judge Richard Bennett handed Wilkinson, originally from Peterlee, a nine-month sentence, which will start after he has served his 11-month prison term.

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