Suspended for Peterborough man who attacked five custody officers in “psychotic” episode

Jacob Carr (23) had refused to leave his cell for a hearing. Officers were kitted up in protective gear in order to bring him out and put him on prison transport.

During a violent scuffle in the cell, Carr pulled the strap of a female custody officer’s helmet around her throat.

This caused her to go white and exclaim “I can’t breathe”, King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court was told on Thursday (April 7).

She had to be dragged from the cell to safety, said prosecutor Hannah Butler.

Four other officers were also assaulted as Carr lashed out and threatened to headbutt two of them.

Mrs Butler said: “He was up and down in psychotic behaviour. He was talking to people in the cell that were not there.

“It was believed to be drug-induced.”

The incident left at least two of the officers wanting to leave the job, the court was told.

The woman who was strangled had to have six weeks off work and suffered nightmares reliving the moments.

At an earlier hearing, Carr, of Fitzwilliam Street, had pleaded guilty to five counts of assaulting an emergency worker on May 26 last year.

Solicitor Julie Murtagh, mitigating, said it was clear that her client had a mental disorder at the time but the picture was very different now.

She told the bench that Carr had since been recalled to prison and released in January, adding: “He seems to have come out with a completely new attitude, you will see from the response to supervision report.

“He’s clean. He was let out of prison drug-free and has not touched drugs since.”

Mrs Murtagh said there was “genuine remorse” for the assaults from an early stage and Carr had made “enormous progress” working with a mentor.

The defendant, of Fitzwilliam Street, was given five months’ custody for each offence, suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to do up to 30 days of rehabilitation activities with Probation and undertake a 12-month drug test order.

Costs of £145 and a £128 victim surcharge were imposed but no compensation order was made.