A PRISONER at HMP Berwyn who broke an officer’s nose has been jailed for eight months.

Luke Jones, 25, from Holywell, denied assault in November of last year at the Wrexham prison but he was convicted by a Mold Crown Court jury.

He was cleared of a more serious charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Judge Timothy Petts said the punch was so severe that he broke Jonathan Shenton’s nose. He needed surgery and had ongoing problems

Judge Petts said it was a significant injury and the jury had rejected his allegation that he had acted in self-defence.

Jones was a serving prisoner at the time who had 19 previous convictions for burglary and drugs offences, the judge said.

Earlier offending included attempted robbery, possession of a blade and assault.

Judge Petts said he accepted it was not a pre-meditated blow when he struck the officer.

It was a single blow to a prison officer.

Barrister Brett Williamson, prosecuting, said the assault occurred on the Bala wing.

Jones was out when he should have been in his cell, he was asked to return but started to walk away and said he was getting a coffee.

An attempt was made to calm him down, but he refused to return to his cell and as he was being escorted by officers he turned at the cell door and punched the officer's face.

There were four officers there at the time and one of the female officers had told him she would get him a coffee if he just returned to his cell.

In evidence, Jones said he returned to the wing from the gym, there were others outside their cells and he went to another inmate’s cell to make a coffee.

He claimed he felt intimidated and struck out in self-defence.

Jones claimed he started to walk away because he did not want confrontation. “I wanted to get away from that situation, “ he claimed, but said the officer followed him.

He threw a punch at him to defend himself but he did not intend the injury that was caused.

Cross-examined, he denied he behaved as if the rules did not apply to him.

Asked why he had not just done as he was told, he said: “I just wanted a drink before I got into my pad.”

Defence barrister Mohammed Rafiq said after the conviction his client’s prison licence expired in July of next year.

While his client had a record it was clear he had been offending to feed his drug habit.

He was a local boy from Holywell who left school at 16, having done GCSEs and his last proper job was at a garden centre.

“This was a spur of the moment incident. It was not pre-meditated, “ the barrister said.

He had perceived some provocation and never intended to cause the level of injury to the officer.

Mr Rafiq said Jones was moved to a different prison, nearly 12 months had passed since the assault and there had been no further issues whatsoever.

Jones had welcomed the move and had not regarded HMP Berwyn as a safe environment after the incident.

“He does regret what happened and has shown some remorse,” Mr Rafiq said.

Following the incident he had been placed in solitary for a month and 10 days.

“He lost all privileges and was on his own throughout that time,” said Mr Rafiq.

Jones now threw himself on the mercy of the court and Mr Rafiq asked the judge to extend as much leniency to his client as he could, so that he could see some light at the end of the tunnel.