Governor finds razor toothbrush weapon in prison fight

A PRISON governor has given a stark warning after finding a toothbrush carved into a ‘vicious’ weapon in a jail.

John Attard, national officer of the Prison Governors Association, said homemade weapons were ‘very common’ in jails.

The bleak assessment came after a prisoner was stabbed to death and two others critically injured in a suspected gang-related fight in London’s Pentonville prison.

Mr Attard described how he discovered the homemade knife when he helped break up a fight in Pentonville two months ago.

He said: ‘We recovered one of the most vicious weapons I’d seen in 29 years in the prison service.

‘It was a toothbrush handle that had been attached to two double-edged razor blades designed to produce a double cut, front and back.’ Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: ‘This is the reality of the

‘One of the most vicious weapons’

conditions that some of our staff are dealing with and some of our prisoners are living in.’

The victim of Tuesday’s attack in Pentonville was Jamal Mahmoud, a 21-year-old who was jailed for six years and six months in July for hiding a loaded machine gun. He was already serving five-and-ahalf years in prison for a robbery.

Two inmates, aged 34 and 26, have been arrested and taken to north London police stations.

Prison assaults have risen by 31 per cent to more than 22,100 in the last year, while attacks involving a blade or other weapon have spiked by 38 per cent to more than 4,000 incidents.

Experts believe the rise in aggression is fuelled by so-called legal highs and a reduction in prison officer numbers.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it is ‘committed to addressing the significant increase in violence in our prisons.’