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HMP Whitemoor attack: Inmates launched ‘terror attack’ on prison officer after luring him to cupboard

Two inmates accused of attempting to murder prison officer with improvised weapons 
Two inmates accused of attempting to murder prison officer with improvised weapons

Two prisoners launched a terror attack inside a maximum-security prison after trying to lure their victim into a cupboard by asking for a spoon, a court has heard.

Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and Baz Hockton, 26, were allegedly shouting “Allahu akbar” and wearing fake suicide vests during the incident at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.

The Old Bailey heard that they asked a prison officer for a spoon “as a ruse” to make him go to a storage cupboard, where they hoped to force him inside.

The victim, Neil Trundle, managed to resist being pushed in and shouted for help as the pair started to rain down blows on his head, neck and chest, the jury was told.

Mr Ziamani and Mr Hockton then allegedly attacked two prison officers and a nurse who ran to the aid of their colleague on 9 January.

“As soon as the officer began to unlock the door, he was attacked by both Mr Ziamani and Mr Hockton,” said prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC.

“The prosecution say it is quite plain that the actions of the two men are coordinated, that help was coming for Mr Trundle from two directions and the defendants split their forces, each driving off those who came to assist the prison officer as far as possible.

“They returned to attack Mr Trundle before they were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of numbers of those coming forward to help.”

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the attack and video from a camera worn by Mr Trundle, which showed the defendants attacking him from above after he fell to the floor.

Jurors were also shown graphic photos of blood splattered up the wall and covering the floor where the prison officer fell.

Ms Darlow said that when another prison officer tried to intervene, Mr Ziamani opened up his jacket to reveal a fake suicide vest and shouted: “I’ve got a bomb.”

Mr Hockton was also wearing a fake suicide vest, made of wires and plastic cartons covered in fabric.

Ms Darlow said the defendants had “carefully planned and executed” the attack using several weapons they made inside the prison, including a homemade shank, lumps of twisted metal covered with fabric grips and two makeshift “metal stabbing implements”.

She added: “It’s the prosecution’s case that the defendants were motivated to commit the attack by extremist Islamic ideology. It was a terrorist attack.”

The prosecutor said Mr Trundle, a prison officer for 14 years, was known to be “kind and helpful” and had no negative dealings with either defendant in the past.

“The arrival of others officers and their attempts to assist, you may think, undoubtedly prevented far more serious injury occurring to the officer,” she added.

He was treated in hospital for lacerations to his ear, scalp, shoulder and arm.

The court heard that Mr Ziamani had been jailed for a terror offence and that Mr Hockton had converted to Islam while in prison, and that his faith “had been corrupted into extremism and he had been radicalised”.

During the attack, Mr Ziamani was carrying a four-page handwritten letter that “spelled out his expectation of immediate martyrdom and set out his own strong belief in violent jihad”, the jury was told.

Ms Darlow said that writings supportive of extremist Islamist ideology had been kept by both defendants, and that Mr Hockton’s cell contained pages of handwritten documents “in which he set out his prayers to become a martyr and referred to the promise of paradise for all martyrs”.

Material found in both men’s cells made reference to Isis and the terrorist group’s propaganda, the court heard.

Mr Ziamani arrived at HMP Whitemoor in 2017 and Mr Hockton in 2019, and that although they were originally held in different areas they were moved to the same wing in October.

They had formed a “close association” by December, the jury was told, and used to meet up whenever possible.

Jurors were told that Mr Ziamani was seeing a forensic psychologist as part of a programme for terrorist prisoners, and had not raised any issues of concern in a session two days before the attack.

He was to receive a “certificate of achievement” at the prison after appearing to engage well and participate in educational opportunities.

Both men deny charges of attempted murder. The trial continues.

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Inmates ‘wearing fake suicide vests’ attack prison officers at HMP Whitemoor, launching counter-terror probe