Makeshift weapons used in stab attacks
VIOLENT THUG ALSO MADE A ‘MACHETE’ – IN PRISON
A VIOLENT criminal has been hit with another 10-year sentence for crafting a DIY ‘machete’ and attacking inmates – while in prison.
Daniel Illingworth, 27, was already serving a 10-year term for robbery and has added to that by using makeshift weapons in two vicious attacks.
Appearing at Newcastle Crown Court on April 13, he was handed another decade in prison, which will begin in 2021 when his current term ends.
Prosecuting, Shaun Dryden told the court Illingworth’s first attack happened while he was travelling on a mini bus between prison wings with other inmates at HMP Northumberland on November 11, 2015.
The victim said there was no issue between the two as they didn’t know each other.
According to the victim’s statement, an arm reached across his face and he felt a pain in the left side of his throat.
Further inspection revealed the weapon was fashioned from a piece of broken glass taken from a television screen.
The victim was treated at the prison and did not need to be hospitalised.
Illingworth was moved to HMP Durham after the incident but his violent streak remained.
On September 20, 2016, officers discovered a metal spring from his mattress had been turned into a two-and-ahalf-foot long “machetelike implement”.
But Illingworth soon got his hands on another weapon and stabbed another inmate.
On October 29, Illingworth sliced a 12cm gash into his victim’s face, running from his mouth to the top of the cheek.
His victim required surgery on the wound and is scarred for life.
The Crown Prosecution Service disclosed that Illingworth has 15 previous convictions for 32 offences, first appearing in court in 2006.
In 2009, he was jailed for 16 months for affray and possession of a bladed article and was handed a 10 year sentence in 2011 at the age of 20 for robbery.
Defending, David Comb said: “With the exception of a fourmonth period on licence which was revoked because of a lack of stable accommodation, he’s been in prison since he was 20.
“My client has been blighted by heroin addiction since he was just 15.”
Illingworth declined to be interviewed after each offence but his legal representative argued he deserved credit for early guilty pleas.
He was sentenced to serve a further 10 years, running consecutive to his current jail term, for two counts of unauthorised possession of a knife in prison, a section 18 wounding and a section 20 wounding.
Summing up, judge Stephen Earl said: “What the facts of these cases tell us is that this is someone who can fashion weapons or obtain them while in prison with the intention of using them.”
Illingworth was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge and a forfeiture and destruction order was issued for the weapons recovered by prison officers.