Shropshire prisoner beaten up and held hostage for four hours
Two men imprisoned another inmate in his cell at Shropshire's Stoke Heath Prison, beat him up and held him hostage for more than four hours, a court heard.
Scott Davies and Jordan Kerr wedged the door closed from inside the cell, preventing prison officers getting in to rescue the man.
Victim Anthony Beard was repeatedly punched to the head and body and his hands and legs were tied behind him with torn sheets from his bed.
He was also threatened with an improvised knife and a broken mug during the incident at HMP Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton, in March this year.
At the time both defendants were part way through lengthy sentences imposed for separate offences of robbery.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Davies, who had previous convictions for violence, possession of weapons and robbery dating back almost 10 years, was given an extended sentence.
Judge Peter Barrie ruled that 23-year-old Davies was considered a dangerous offender and imposed an eight-year sentence – five years immediate custody, with a three-year extended licence period.
Kerr, 23, also with a record of assaults and robbery, was jailed for three years and eight months.
Davies, of Ffynon Tudfil, Merthyr Tydfil, and Kerr, of Third Avenue, Caerphilly, had pleaded guilty to a charge of false imprisonment.
The court heard the incident was claimed to involve the recovery of a drug debt and because the defendants had been verbally abused by Beard as they were from Wales.
"You may have been annoyed by the comments but it did not justify the violence used against the victim," said Judge Barrie.
"This was a sustained assault over a four-hour period when he was punched to the head and body and was tied up. You used the situation to taunt the prison authorities," he said.
Judge Barrie said Davies had taken the lead and had a weapon, had a grudge against the prison, had been "commissioned" to deal with a drug debt, as well as the issue of the verbal abuse.
Mr Keith Harrison, prosecuting, said the defendants had threatened to stab the victim and items in the cell were smashed and Mr Beard was threatened with part of a broken mug.
He said the injured inmate did not need hospital treatment, but he had a cut lip, a swollen nose and bruising to his head and ribs.
Mr Stephen Cadwalladr, for Davies, said his client had had a difficult background and had been offending from the age of 14 and over the past five years had only been at liberty for 11 days.
He said that he had planned to take revenge for the taunts but there had been no intention to kidnap Anthony Beard but matters "got out of hand".
Mr Ben Waters, for Kerr, said his client had a difficult background and had been in care from a young age and had been offending from the age of 12.
