Racially abused teen blinded fellow inmate

A teenager blinded a fellow inmate in one eye at Shropshire's young offender institution by hitting him with a table leg after he was racially abused, a court heard.

Judge Robin Onions heard that the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, carried out the vicious attack on another teenager at HMPYOI Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton, on December 4, 2010.

The youngster, who admitted the assault at an earlier hearing, had his sentence extended to three years and four months, meaning he will not be eligible for release in December 2013 but will now remain in custody into 2015.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday that the defendant hit the victim repeatedly with a table leg.

The victim suffered a detached retina and has lost vision in his left eye.

The court was told that the condition of his eye was likely to deteriorate and may eventually need to be removed altogether.

Defence solicitor Alex Taylor-Camara said the teenager had been encouraged by other inmates to seek revenge.

He said: "This was a vicious and nasty assault which led to devastating consequences. There's no getting away from that."

The judge said the sentence would have been much longer if he had been an adult. He said: "You're only 17-and-a-half but you have already accumulated a worryingly long list of previous convictions, particularly for violence.

"I do not ignore for one moment how damaging racial abuse can be.

"You armed yourself with a weapon and you've effectively blinded him in his left eye. That is a life sentence you have inflicted on him. If you were an adult the starting point would have been 12 years."

The teenager was already in custody for a series of robberies and assaults. He also received a 12 month sentence, to run concurrently, for attacking the victim's brother at the same time, who had stepped in to help.