Prisoner Jailed After Attacking Guards with Sharpened Sink

A prisoner who brandished a sharpened piece of hand basin before assaulting three guards has been jailed for additional time at Caernarfon Crown Court today. ⚖️

Billy Joe Walsh, 36, from College Street, St Helens, Merseyside, was sentenced to ten months imprisonment for possession of the unauthorised weapon. He received an additional four-month concurrent term for possession of a second weapon – a black plastic blade – found in his cell while in segregation.

The court heard that on December 18, 2023, officer Connor McNamara witnessed Walsh making slashing motions with a white object after shoving another prisoner out of a cell. When officers Jack Hughes and Craig Wade attempted to restrain him, Walsh pointed the sharpened weapon towards them.

During the ensuing struggle, Walsh tried to bite Mr Wade’s head and bit his right shoulder. He also attempted to bite Mr McNamara’s face before being wrestled to the floor while “snarling and screaming incoherently.”

The following day, custody manager Stuart Bould discovered a plastic weapon in Walsh’s cell. One officer described Walsh as “volatile and aggressive” in a statement to the court.

Walsh, who represented himself via video link from HMP Liverpool, told the court he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and had been “in a bad place with my mental health.”

The judge also imposed two-month concurrent jail terms for each of the three assaults on prison officers.