Notts prisoner disfigured inmate after slashing face with improvised weapon

Donald Phillips was in his cell, in self-isolation, on Block 2 North of HMP Ranby when his victim shouted: “See what happens when you come out of self-isolation. You’re dead.”

Phillips thrust part of a fridge tray through the gap in the cell door and caught the other man’s face, leaving a four inch gash from above his right eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. The wound needed more than 20 sutures.

Phillips said: “See what happens when you mess with me.”

Prosecutor Jeremy Janes told Nottingham Crown Court how the attack, on July 18, 2018, happened while Phillips was serving a sentence for unlawful wounding, which took place four years earlier to the day.

Phillips and another man attacked someone with a glass bottle, leaving a wound in his neck that needed ten stitches and a cut to the eyelid that was glued, Mr Janes said.

He was sentenced to nine years, with a two year extension, at Norwich Crown Court, on 2014, and his earliest release date will be 2023.

“He wouldn’t have been able to see what part of the body he would have struck or made contact with,” said Mr Janes of the 2018 attack.

The court heard how Phillips’ victim, who had been smuggling drugs and mobile phones into the prison, complained that other inmates called him “Scarface” after the incident.

“Family and friends did their best to hide their disgust at his appearance,” Mr Janes added.

“He took the decision that his children shouldn’t visit him in prison because of his appearance. It’s obviously going to be of some concern going forward.”

Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told Barnaby Shaw, for Phillips, that Mr Janes had covered most of the mitigation.

Phillips, 30, now of HMP Bristol, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding when he appeared in court on Tuesday.

The judge imposed a two-year sentence, starting from today, but told him: “I take the view it would be unjust to add to the time you have got coming of your extended sentence.”