Whitemoor prison terror attack inmates handed life terms

Brusthom Ziamani (left) and Baz Hockton were convicted of attempted murder at the high security Whitemoor Prison

Two serving prisoners have had their jail terms extended to life for the attempted murder of a prison officer inside a maximum security jail.

Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and Baz Hockton, 26, stabbed "kind and helpful" Neil Trundle at HMP Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, on 9 January.

The two men were convicted of attempted murder at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

The judge, Mrs Justice May, told Ziamani his "adherence to extremist ideology clearly persists".

The assault on Mr Trundle is the first terrorist attack to occur inside a British jail.

• Murder bid pair guilty of prison terror attack

• The violent histories of prison terror attackers

Ziamani is five years into a 19-year sentence for a 2014 plot to behead a soldier, inspired by the 2013 murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

The convicted terrorist would have been eligible for parole in 2027, but the judge said he must serve at least 21 years.

Hockton - who is three years into a 12-year jail term for a stabbing attack - will serve a minimum term of 23 years.

Mrs Justice May said she was satisfied he was "inspired by extremist beliefs" and had a "terrorist connection".

She told him: "Your current twisted view of Islam needs to change."

Hockton was also sentenced to a concurrent 10-year term for wounding a prisoner with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at Swaleside prison, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, in April last year.

Brusthom Ziamani and Baz Hockton had denied attempting to murder prison warden Neil Trundle

Ziamani and Hockton made makeshift bladed weapons and fake suicide belts before luring Mr Trundle to a store cupboard on the pretext of asking for a spoon, the court heard.

Mrs Justice May said: "It is quite plain to me that the defendants must have been planning this terrorist operation for some time, preparing fake suicide belts and multiple weapons for the purpose.

"It is no accident the January attack came just weeks after the London Bridge attack in November 2019."

In that terror incident, former Whitemoor inmate Usman Khan killed Cambridge University graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, in a terror attack at Fishmongers' Hall.

The judge added: "These defendants, inside prison, didn't have ready access to weapons or explosives but did their utmost to plan and execute a terrorist attack with what they could get their hands upon in prison."

CCTV footage captured the two men being restrained after the attack in January

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [e-mail]