Prisoners plotted to kill fellow inmate with homemade weapons at Woodhill jail in Milton Keynes

Eight prison warders surrounded Jason Gomez and his co-accused Matthew Tinling in the dock as they faced a new trial on a joint charge of attempted murder.

The jury heard how they turned toilet brush handles into homemade weapons - one of which left a sharpened piece of plastic in their victim's eye.

Both men showed complete contempt for High Court judge Mrs Justice Moulder and for the jury of seven men and five women as they were sworn in.

Tinling giving the jury a big wave as his name was read out and Gomez shouting out that he was "the good looking one" as his name was announced in court.

The 31-year-old and 48-year-old were guarded by eight dock officers as the jury was sworn in at Oxford Crown Court and they could be heard talking and laughing throughout.

As the case got underway the jury was told that one of the defendants had killed two people in the past and also kept a diary split into two columns with the headings “murder sentenced” and “did them on” with dates.

They were told that Jason Gomez had been convicted of two previous murders, one on New Year’s Day in 2001 and once in 2015.

Prosecutor Matthew Walsh said: “This case is about brutal and unprovoked violence. These two defendants, Mr Gomez and Mr Tinling, attacked together another man using homemade weapons. That attack, you may well conclude, was planned and premeditated. They were trying to kill him."

Mr Walsh described the brutal attack on fellow prisoner Charles Storey on the morning of October 24 2016 which left a sharpened piece of plastic in the victim’s eye from homemade prison weapons at HMP Woodhill, where they were residents in unit 6B.

Mr Walsh told the jury: “It is designed to house some of the most dangerous prisoners in the country. Both defendants, Mr Gomez and Mr Tinling, as well as the man that they attacked - and a man called Donaldson - were prisoners serving sentences in unit 6B.”

The four prisoners were all placed in a TV or association room, to be out of the way as guards moved another prisoner. Mr Walsh said the jury might decide Gomez and Tinling had anticipated the move and had taken a bundle with them.

“To the prison officers, they looked like clothes, a towel, belongings, possibly to take to the shower room. In fact, within each of those bundles of clothes they had each placed the weapon that they were intending to use,” he said.

The jury was shown pictures of the homemade weapons, fashioned out of plastic toilet brush handles that had been detached and sharpened to a point. They were told this was most probably done with sandpaper.

Mr Walsh went on: “It goes without saying that they really only had one intended purpose, to be used as dangerous prison weapons.

“Mr Gomez gave a signal for things to start. By things, I mean the attack. That, you may conclude,was the trigger for when the two men would act together to attack Mr Storey and they did so, with real ferocity and purpose.

“They were aiming these weapons, stabbing to the torso, to the head and to the neck. A chair was wedged in the door. Mr Storey suffered multiple injuries from what happened. For example, he was stabbed in the eye. A piece of plastic from one of the weapons was recovered from his eye during surgery that followed.”

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the attack, where the prisoners could be seen repeatedly striking downwards at the victim, as prison officers looked through the glass looking out into the unit and eventually stormed the room. The fourth prisoner, Donaldson, played no part in the attack but, carrying a blue mug, he went to chat to the two attackers following the incident.

Mr Walsh said: “Once it was apparent to the officers outside the room an attack was taking place the alarm was raised and once there were sufficient numbers of officers, they were able to intervene and drag Mr Storey out and start giving him emergency first aid.

“Mr Gomez and Mr Tinling remained in the room with Mr Donaldson. They appeared to some of the prison officers as if they were laughing and joking about what had happened, boasting about what had taken place.”

Once it was safe to do so, prison officers took the prisoners to separate cells. Their rooms were searched and officers found two items in Gomez’s room which the prosecution claimed were significant - a diary and a phone book.

Mr Walsh told the jury: “You may well conclude when you look and hear them that they show beyond doubt in Gomez’ case that this was a pre-planned attack and that his intention was to kill, to murder.”

He took the jury through the diary and showed how a page was divided into two columns.

Mr Walsh said: “The left hand column, in capitals, has been given the heading, ‘MURDER SENTENCED’. The right hand column, ‘DID THEM ON THE’. Under the columns are rows with the reference, ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’, like a table.

“In the third entry, in the column for ‘DID THEM ON THE’ is the date of the incident you are going to be considering, October 24 2016. Why was this the third entry in a list of murders, if that is what you think this is? What does it tell you about what he thought would happen that morning and what he intended to do?”

Mr Walsh also read out other dates in the diary for ‘MURDER SENTENCED’, 19/09/2000 and September 18 2015 and one for ‘DID THEM ON’, September 25 2015. He also read out a date in Gomez’s phone book, March 25 2015.

The barrister said: “It may assist you in understanding the significance of that entry and those dates to know that Mr Gomez has committed two previous murders.

“The first murder happened on New Year’s Day 2001 and was sentenced on September 17 of that year. Not quite in alignment with the entry.

“The second murder Mr Gomez committed took place on March 25 2015. And for that murder he was sentenced on September 18 2015.

“The date in the phone book, unlike in the diary, was right. That is the date Mr Gomez murdered for a second time.”

It was revealed the defendants had said nothing following the incident when they were interviewed by police.

Matthew Tinling (corr) and Jason Gomez are charged with attempting to murder Charles Storey and wounding him with intent on October 24 2016 in a prison. They deny the charges.

The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.