Inmate ‘high on Spice’ tried to strangle prison guard
APRISON inmate suspected of being high on the drug Spice tore apart his bedsheet and tried to strangle a prison officer.
Martin Marland, from Macclesfield, used a ripped strip of sheet to attack the guard after being approached in his cell.
The 26-year-old has now been given an 11 year and eight month sentence after admitting to attempt to choke, strangle or suffocate.
Marland was a prisoner at HMP Liverpool on March 2, 2016 when he was spotted behaving erratically 11.30am.
He was tearing his bedsheet and threatening staff and officers suspected he had taken the former legal high Spice.
When two guards entered his cell he leapt at one of them, wrapping a strip of bedsheet around his victim’s neck and squeezing tightly.
The victim was saved when other officers rushed to the help of their colleague.
Marland was detained and charged with attempted murder after the attack, but the charge was later dropped and he admitted attempting to choke, strangle or suffocate the guard.
He was sentenced at at around Preston Crown Court on October 20.
Marland was jailed in 2009 after being convicted of robbery and theft.
He was given a two year Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), a sentence which has no set release date or length and was designed for offenders that posed a serious threat to the public.
IPPs were abolished in 2012 but there are still some prisoners serving IPP sentences.
Detective Inspector Mark Drew, of Merseyside Police, said: “This was an appalling attack on a prison officer who, along with other staff, had been primarily concerned about the safety of Marland, before being subjected to threats, and this prolonged and life-threatening attack.
“It is undoubtedly only due to the quick-thinking interventions of the victim’s colleagues that he wasn’t killed.
“However, the longterm effects of this vicious attack cannot be underestimated and Marland will not be released from prison for the foreseeable future. Merseyside Police will stand alongside the prison service in relentlessly prosecuting and putting before the courts anyone who carries out acts of violence on prison staff.”