A prisoner who claims to have a kitchen phobia after being stabbed 16 times while working in a prison canteen is suing the government for £5 million.
Steven Wilson told a court that he suffered many injuries, including a torn liver, fractured spine and lacerated spinal cord, when a convicted murderer attacked him “out of the blue” with a nine-inch knife while they worked in the kitchen at HMP Chelmsford in Essex.
The 36-year-old, who was serving a sentence for burglary at the time of the attack, is suing the Ministry of Justice over allegations that officials failed to adequately assess whether Patrick Chandler, who had a history of violence, was safe for kitchen work, where he had access to knives and other sharp items.
Whitehall lawyers have countered that the court should reject Wilson’s damages claim as he had “next to no history” of having earned an honest living. The ministry has admitted liability for the attack and agreed that Wilson should receive some compensation.
Lawyers for the ministry have told a High Court judge that because Wilson had a 20-year criminal record, a £5 million payout would be “out of accord with what society would perceive as being reasonable”.
The judge, Melissa Clarke, heard that Wilson, of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, was on remand for an aggravated burglary — for which he was later convicted — when he was attacked by Chandler.
At the time, his attacker was only 24 days into a life sentence, imposed for the knife murder of John Comer, 45, in Lawford, Essex, in 2017.
Wilson, who had been “fit and fearless” before the attack, told the court that Chandler was “looking at him strangely” before he lashed out, as if he were “looking straight through him”.
Chandler later admitted a charge of attempted murder and received an additional life sentence and ten-year minimum term in 2018.
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It was disclosed in court documents that ministry officials had assessed Chandler’s overall risk as “medium”. That was despite them being aware that a fortnight before the attack Chandler had allegedly told his supervisor that “he had fantasised about violence and what he was going to do to people and about making weapons”.
Giles Mooney KC, representing Wilson, told the judge that Wilson required more than two months’ treatment in hospital, during which time he was confined to a wheelchair. He now walks with a stick and is said to suffer chronic pain, and his legal team told the court that he could not work because of the effects of the attack.
“I went in there a perfectly fit young man and came out in a wheelchair,” Wilson said as he gave evidence. He claimed to be still haunted by the attack, with a deep horror of knives and now tried to avoid going into the kitchen at all times.
“When I see knives I feel cold,” he said. “You don’t understand the chill I get when I see a knife. I can’t be in a kitchen or around knives because it reminds me of the attack.”
Wilson also claimed to suffer from flashbacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, and nightmares. “I knew that he was behind bars but I kept seeing him, I had dreams that he was chasing me and I’d wake up in a pool of sweat,” he added.
Richard Wheeler KC, for the ministry, said that while officials accepted that Wilson “must be compensated for his injuries, that compensation must be fair, reasonable and just”.
The barrister noted that Wilson had a lengthy criminal record, including offences involving criminal damage, theft, breach of community orders and violence. Wheeler said that Wislon’s claim for lost future earnings was excessive as there was “next to no history of legitimate earnings in his life”.
The case continues.