Ranby prisoner attacked inmate in the showers because he was a ‘grass’

John Armstrong entered the shower room with another man as his victim was getting dressed and punched him in the right side of face, on February 7 2022.

Armstrong asked him why he had been grassing people up and threw multiple punches before wagging his finger "akin to a warning," said prosecutor Tom Heath.

His victim was reluctant to name his attackers and was left with a facial wound that required glue to seal it back together.

Armstrong, aged 28, was identified by CCTV and made no comment when he was interviewed.

Nottingham Crown Court heard he has six previous convictions for 11 offences, including a section 20 wounding from May 2016. At the time of the attack he was serving a two-year sentence for assault.

Rawaid Javed, mitigating, said: “He offers no excuses for his behaviour. He appreciates how his actions have affected his victim and accepts it must have been horrible.”

He said Armstrong was released from prison in July last year and enrolled on an engineering course.

He now does track work on the Metro in Tyneside, has been promoted to become a supervisor, and also works as a crane controller at weekends.

“He found the culture in prison difficult and wants to do everything possible not to go back,” said Mr Javed.

“He is the sole provider for his partner and three children. He has worked tremendously hard to turn his life around.”

Armstrong, of Lamedon Mill Court, Lemington, Newcastle Upon Tyne, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on the basis it was coincidental but Nottingham magistrates ruled it was "premeditated and planned."

On Wednesday, Recorder Stuart Sprawson said: “It’s only in the last 24 hours that he has shown any remorse or empathy for the injuries he inflicted.”

He told Armstrong, who appeared by video-link from HMP Wakefield, that his actions caused “havoc” within the prison system as “they undermined and challenged the regime.”

He imposed a 22 month prison sentence, suspended for 24 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work, and ordered him to pay £250 compensation to his victim.