A prison officer was brutally slashed across the face by a notoriously violent inmate serving life for murder with an improvised weapon made from a disposable razor.
The experienced officer, in his 40s, is facing life with scars after being cut twice across the face by an inmate at Wakefield prison, West Yorkshire, as this disturbing image shows.
The haemorrhage officer, who MailOnline is not naming, had to be taken to the city's Pinderfields Hospital where he required more than 30 stitches to the two wounds which extended from his right eye to the corner of his mouth and from his cheek to his lip.
MailOnline understands his alleged attacker Martin Bates, 35, is serving a murder con man who has a history of violence in prison.
Bates was moved to Wakefield – which has been dubbed 'Monster Mansion' due to the large number of dangerous prisoners it holds – just six months ago after previously attacking a prison guard at HMP Manchester.
But within two days of moving to Wakefield, Bates cut and tried to strangle noTorious Baby Killer Stephen Boden and was moved to 'Line 45' to be separated from other prisoners in solitary confinement.
It is believed that the attacker may have used the blade from a disposable safety razor to create a secret weapon.
Safety razors are being replaced at 31 of England's most violent prisons, including Wakefield, under a campaign by the Prisoner Officers' Association.
A prison officer was viciously cut across the face by a notoriously violent inmate serving life for murder with an improvised weapon made from a disposable razor
The experienced officer, in his 40s, is facing life with scars after being cut twice across the face by an inmate at Wakefield prison, West Yorkshire as this image shows
This gruesome photo graphically illustrates the need for this movement – as Britain's prisoners struggle to maintain order as our overcrowded prisons reach breaking point.
A fellow prison officer told MailOnline: 'The officer's wife also works in the prison, in admin, and her heart must have skipped a beat when she heard the distress call from 'Care Team to F-Wing'.
“Once she heard what his name was, she immediately went over and joined him in the ambulance.”
Shocking photos of the serious facial injuries, his white shirt covered in blood, have been spread on WhatsApp groups by fellow prison officers angry at the violence they face every day in Britain's prisons, which even Prime Minister Keir Starmer admits is broken '.
In November it was revealed that attacks on prison officers reached a new high with official figures from the MOJ showing a record 10,281 attacks on prison staff in the year to June 2024, an increase of 30 per cent on the previous 12 months.
About 974 of these were serious attacks, a jump of 24 percent.
And last year the Ministry of Justice announced that wet razors should be banned at all men's prisons with prisoners having instead issued their own electric razor at taxpayer expense, but it is understood that the switch at Wakefield is not complete until the end of March 2025.
The move to Electric followed a campaign by the Prison Officers' Association featuring graphic photographs of injuries inflicted on staff by prisoners using razor blades.
A two-year process began in 2022, during which razors were withdrawn from seven English prisons—six male, one female—with several alternatives available.
Then in May, former Tory Prisons Minister Edward Argar said razors would initially be banned at 31 closed men's prisons with the highest levels of violence, including Wakefield.
Argar told MPS last year: 'Safety in prisons remains paramount and we remain committed to tackling violence against both staff and prisoners.
'When the Government launched the Prison Strategy White Paper in 2021, we committed to looking at alternatives to the use of wet shearers in prisons, which can be used to self-harm and carry out attacks.
'Recent serious attacks on prison staff illustrate the potential danger of wet-shave razors in prisons.'
Pictured: The B-Wing at Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire
HMP Wakefield (pictured) earned its grim nickname due to the high number of sex offenders, murders and other violent inmates among its 600 population
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'We take violence against our hard-working staff incredibly seriously and anyone found guilty of misconduct will be punished.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further while police investigate.”
West Yorkshire Police confirmed they are investigating the incident in Wakefield on January 17.
HMP Wakefield earned its grim nickname due to the high number of sex offenders, murders and other violent inmates among its 600 population.
Current infamous inmates housed there include 97-year-old child molester and serial killer Sidney Cooke, who raped and murdered Mark Tildesley, Jason Swift and Barry Lewis. Nicknamed 'Sissening Sid', he was the leader of a pedophile ring suspected of up to twenty child murders of young boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
Also believed in Wakefield to be pedophile Roy Whiting, who kidnapped and murdered Sarah Payne in 2000, as well as 'House of Horror' Killer Jeremy Bamber, convicted of the murders of his adoptive mother, father, sister, sister and his sister in two sons in 1985.
Bates, who has now been moved to HMP Full Sutton, near York, was jailed for life in 2021 for killing a friend while he slept following a drunken row.
John Littlewood, 36, was found dead with serious head injuries at an address on Third Street in the village of Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, in July 2019.
Within two days of moving to Wakefield, Bates cut and attempted to strangle infamous baby killer Stephen Boden and was moved to 'Rule 45' to be separated from other prisoners. Pictured: Boden Holding Finley, six weeks before the child's death on Christmas Day 2020
Bates initially denied murder but changed his plea to guilty at his trial at Teesside Crown Court.
He was given a minimum sentence of 24 years.
The Northern Echo reported that Mr Littlewood and Bates had spent the day drinking before a row broke out.
Durham Police said Mr Littlewood suffered catastrophic head injuries after being repeatedly struck with a blunt instrument in the early hours of July 26, 2019.
His body was found four days later, sparking a 'long and complex' investigation.
After the hearing, Mr Littlewood's mother, Pamela Hall, paid tribute to her son, also known as John D.
She said: “The fact that he was killed was bad enough [but] This person could have taken responsibility from the day he was arrested, leaving us to listen to the last moments of John D's life during the trial.
'This has been unbearable at times and no words can explain the pain and torture I have experienced.
“There are no words to describe the pain we are all feeling, but we hope that the justice served will hopefully give us some comfort knowing that the person responsible for my son's murder cannot harm anyone else.”
