A repeat offender who taunted a fellow inmate at Altcourse Prison and encouraged him to kill himself turned violent when guards intervened.
Wade Walsh, 49, was serving time at the prison in Fazakerley when, at around 4.30pm on March 17, another man threatened to jump from the railings on the Melling Brow unit. As prison officers attempted to talk the man down, Walsh goaded him and told him to jump.
He was approached by two officers and an altercation broke out.
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At Liverpool Crown Court today, prosecutor Ian Criddle said: "He hit (one of the officers) with the palm of his hand, and when he was taken to the floor by the officer, he stuck his finger into his eye and bit him on the chest." The other officer attempted to intervene, and was also bitten.
Walsh, formerly of Cameron Road in Leasowe, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. He appeared for sentence via a video link from Altcourse, where he is expected to remain on a separate conviction until January 2025.
John Wheat, defending, said Walsh had lashed out in a panic, and had suffered injuries himself in the scuffle – though the judge, Mr Recorder MP Taylor, said: "He brought that on himself."
Mr Wheat said Walsh had made good progress in custody and had secured a place at a rehab facility in Glasgow, which he would be unable to attend if he was given a sentence extending beyond April 2024.
Sentencing Walsh to a total of three and a half months, to run concurrently with his existing prison term, the judge said: "Your earliest release date is January 2025, so whatever sentence I would pass for this offence would not crucially affect your release, but I'm told that there has been a change in your life and for the first time in a long time there are signs that things are getting better, and there's at least a possibility, if you are released on licence, that you will be able to go to Glasgow, which may help you.
"If the parole board decides you cannot be released until January 2025, that is a matter for them. But I don't want to harm any possibility."
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