Inmate who squirted poo and urine at prison staff in disgusting attack has 18 months added to sentence

Ricardo Berryman-Ward, who at the time was a serving prisoner at HMP Whitemoor, was threatening staff and damaging the observation panel on his cell in the segregation unit on September 11 last year.

As a result, the 23-year-old was denied his normal morning regime but was checked back on later in segregation and was going to be allowed to make a phone call.

However, Berryman-Ward continued being aggressive and threatening prison staff, telling one of them he would slit their throat.

After a while, he appeared to calm down and asked to speak to the same prison officer again. As the man approached the cell door Berryman-Ward asked if he was going to get his normal regime.

The prison officer told him no, and at this point Berryman-Ward held up a shower gel bottle. He said it was filled with a mixture of faeces and urine and threatened to damage the prison landing and the food trolley with it.

He was asked to place it on the floor, which he did, but picked it back up and started to squirt it out of his broken observation panel onto the prison landing.

The prison officer asked for help from a cleaner to get a protective box used to put around the cells of prisoners on dirty protests.

The pair tried to move the box into position but Berryman-Ward squirted the bottle at them, hitting the prison officer in the hair and on his body and the prison cleaner on his head and arm.

Shields were held against the broken observation panel while the pair tried to move the box into position again, but this time Berryman-Ward managed to find a gap and squirted the liquid into the prison officer’s mouth. The cleaner was also hit again.

Berryman-Ward refused to answer any questions and was later served a postal requisition charging him with two counts of administering a noxious substance with intent.

He pleaded guilty at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (9 July) where he was handed an 18-month prison sentence, to be served after the conclusion of his existing one.

DC Shelly Reeve, who investigated, said: “Berryman-Ward was sent to a category A prison, where the most serious offenders are kept, but was due for release next year after previously being handed a nine-year prison sentence.

“However, as a result of his actions he will be staying behind bars for a little longer.

“This was a disgusting, unprovoked attack that nobody should have to endure. Prison staff work hard to ensure the safety of inmates and should be able to do so without fear of being attacked.”