Two inmates who ‘savagely’ attacked a prison guard with makeshift ‘shanks’ while wearing fake suicide belts and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ were ‘Islamic extremists intent on becoming martyrs’, a court has heard.
Convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and radicalised inmate Baz Hockton, 26, launched themselves at prison officer Neil Trundle while his back was turned, the Old Bailey was told.
The pair ‘raining down blows’ on the prison officer’s neck and chest during the attack at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, the court heard.
It is alleged they used several makeshift weapons including lumps of twisted metal with fabric grips, and two improvised knives made using odds and ends they could find in the jail, during the attack.
As the pair slashed at Mr Trundle, a nurse, Jayne Cowles, and a prison officer, Georgina Ibbotson, ran to help their colleague, but were also turned on by Ziamani, the court heard.
Ziamani then immediately returned to the assault on Mr Trundle, a prison officer of 14 years, while Hockton chased and ‘violently confronted’ another prison officer, prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC told jurors.
Convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and radicalised inmate Baz Hockton, 26, launched themselves at prison officer Neil Trundle while his back was turned, the Old Bailey was told.
The pair ‘raining down blows’ on the prison officer’s neck and chest during the attack at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire (pictured), the court heard
Ms Darlow said Hockton had registered his Islamic faith at HMP Whitemoor but that had been ‘corrupted into extremism’ and he had been radicalised.
He befriended Ziamani, who arrived at the prison in 2017, last December despite their cells initially being located in different wings, jurors heard.
Extremist writings were recovered from both men, including a four-page hand-written letter carried by Ziamani spelling out his ‘expectation of immediate martyrdom’ and ‘strong belief in violent jihad’, Ms Darlow said.
Material was also recovered from Hockton’s cell setting out his desire to become a martyr, the court was told.
The court heard how one extract from the note read: ‘Oh don’t hesitate, oh Knights of Islam. To sacrifice your souls for Allah, depending on your state, Shayteen (satan) tries to put doubts in your minds but ignore him and fulfil your duties to sacrifice your souls for Allah.’
Another read: ‘Our knives seek skin to pierce to allow torrents of blood to flow from you as you have with us.’
Ms Darlow said that during the attack the pair were ‘cold and focussed’ – wearing fake suicide belts made from underwear elastic and wires, with Ziamani shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ and ‘I have a bomb’.
She added: ‘When they carried out the attack they shouted Allahu Akbar – “Allah is most great”.’
Opening their trial, in which the pair both deny attempted murder, Ms Darlow said they attacked ‘kind and helpful’ Mr Trundle for ‘terrorist purposes’.
She told jurors: ‘The attack on Prison Officer Trundle was carefully planned and executed using a number of makeshift weapons constructed from the limited materials available to two men being held in prison, including a homemade shank, lumps of twisted metal which had been covered in fabric to form grips, and two makeshift metal stabbing implements.’
She said the defendants planned to ‘lure’ a target to a store cupboard ‘on the pretext of asking a prison officer to fetch a spoon’.
Ms Carlow said: ‘The prosecution say that asking for a spoon was just a ruse by Mr Ziamani, a trick to get a prison officer, whichever prison officer agreed to go to the door of the cupboard, knowing, we say as he did, that the prison officer would have to turn their back on whoever was with them in order to unlock the door to the storage cupboard giving a moment where the officer would be vulnerable to being attacked
Extremist writings were recovered from both men, including a four-page hand-written letter carried by Ziamani spelling out his ‘expectation of immediate martyrdom’ and ‘strong belief in violent jihad’, jurors heard
‘As the attack begins, three people come to assist, two females and a male, Mr Ziamani goes after the two females, he attacks both of them and after he knocks them over – disposing of the threat.
‘He immediately returns and resumes the attack on Mr Trundle.
‘Mr Hockton, for his part, goes after the male who has come to intervene and you will see him chase him off in the opposite direction.
‘Other officers then come onto the scene and begin the task of trying to retain these two men who are very forcibly resisting.’
She added that without the help of fellow officers and the nurse, the outcome could have been likely been fatal.
She said: ‘What Mr Trundle recalls is blows being rained down on him and specifically they were targeting his neck, chest and head area the prosecution say that was deliberate because those are the parts of the body most vulnerable to a fatal attack.
‘The arrival of other officers and attempts to assist, you may think, undoubtedly prevented far more serious injury to the officer.’
Mr Trundle escaped without life-threatening injuries, instead suffering multiple superficial wounds to his scalp, right arm, and shoulder, a cut above his left eyebrow and a 2.5cm laceration to his right ear and 5cm laceration to the right side of his scalp which was closed with glue.
It took five or six officers to restrain Ziamani, who was laughing and muttering ‘Allahu Akbar’ before the belt with wires coming out of it was cut off him, the court heard.
Asked about the belt, Ziamani allegedly told an officer: ‘I just wish it was real. It’s a suicide belt.’
The defendants were transferred to different prisons and their cells searched.
There were pieces of wire and plastic like those used to make the hoax suicide belt in Ziamani’s cell, jurors heard.
A note on a scrap of brown envelope about someone in uniform and sticking ‘a spike in his head like a unicorn’ was allegedly found in Hockton’s cell.
Ziamani, formerly of Camberwell, southeast London, and Hockton, formerly of Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate, both deny attempted murder and wounding with intent to PO Trundle.
Ziamani is also charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Ms Ibbotson and Ms Cowles.
The trial continues.