Violent kidnapper tricked prison officers to carry out ambush
A violent prisoner locked up indefinitely managed to trick prison guards into entering his cell so he could attack them. Derwin Ellis had been in Gartree Prison, near Market Harborough, in a segregation cell when the incident happened.
Ellis, who is behind bars for crimes including robbery and kidnap, was meant to be under regular observation at the Leicestershire prison. Rules at HMP Gartree state that for any interaction with his in his segegration cell, at least three prison guards - in full riot gear - should enter his cell. However, on the day of the attack in October last year, Ellis had obstructed his cell's viewing panel and he got into bed, fully dressed.
At Leicester Magistrates' Court on Friday (October 18) prosecutor Sukhy Basi explained what happened next. He said: "At 8.45am a three-person shield team in full personal protection went to his cell and he refused to respond, forcing them to open the door."
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Mr Basi continued: "They informed the defendant, who was in bed, that they were going to remove the obstruction and the defendant shot out of bed fully dressed and managed to reach over the officer's shield, undo his chin strap to his helmet and punch him in the left eye. The perception was the defendant had planned to carry out the attack."
Magistrates were shown photographs of the bruising and swelling caused to the officer's left eye. The court heard Ellis had been in custody since February 2011 and had "numerous" convictions for violence and was on an indeterminate prison sentence, meaning he will stay behind bars until a parole board decides he is no longer a risk to the public. He had 42 previous offences on his record in total.
Roshni Modi, representing Ellis, told the magistrates her client had denied the offence of assault by beating of an emergency worker but had been found guilty at a trial he'd been unable to get to because he wasn't put on the prison transport to attend.
She said he intended to appeal the conviction. She said her client had not obstructed the panel to lure the officers in but had done it to stop the light shining into his cell when he was trying to sleep.
She said: "The light shining in was causing him headaches and it was invading his privacy. There was a scuffle where he's been pushed onto his bed with an officer on top of him, pinning him."
Ellis was given a four-week jail term - which will be served concurrently to his ongoing sentence rather than delaying his release date - and if he is released he will have to pay £154 compensation to the prison officer.