PC killer David Bieber attacked prison officer with metal bar

David Bieber shot West Yorkshire PC Ian Broadhurst in the head and chest

A policeman's killer left a prison officer with serious injuries after attacking her with a metal bar.

David Bieber, 56, was serving a prison sentence for murdering West Yorkshire PC Ian Broadhurst when he repeatedly stabbed Alison Smith.

The court heard she had been lucky to escape life-changing injury or even death at HMP Long Lartin, Worcestershire, in August 2017.

He was cleared of attempted murder but found guilty of wounding with intent.

The former US Marine had denied all the charges.

Bieber, who will be sentenced on 13 September, is already serving a minimum 37-year jail sentence for murdering PC Broadhurst, who he shot in the head and chest in Leeds in 2003 and injured his colleague PC Neil Roper.

The officers had questioned him in their patrol car about his stolen BMW.

He was found guilty of murder in 2004 and jailed for life with a recommendation he should never be released.

He had been hunted by US police for eight years before he shot PC Broadhurst and is accused of paying a hitman to kill a love rival in Florida in 1995.

David Bieber was an inmate at HMP Long Lartin at the time of the attack

Worcester Crown Court heard Bieber used two long pieces of metal taped together and pointed at one end to attack Ms Smith, who was left bleeding from wounds to her face and right arm.

Bieber claimed he had not meant to seriously harm her and had been trying to "create a scene" in order to get a transfer to HMP Belmarsh.

But prosecutors said his account was an act designed to cover up his efforts to "get revenge on the Prison Service" after his medication for pain and anxiety was cut by doctors.

In a victim impact statement Ms Smith, who now has a different operational role, said the attack had had a life-changing impact.

"I am still suffering daily with pain to my right arm and back."

"I could have been killed on that day and genuinely believed on that day I was going to be," she added.

She also said she believed her rights had come second to his and accused him of deliberately stalling the trial, which was rescheduled eight times, by sacking his lawyers.

Jurors deliberated for two days before unanimously convicting him of the lesser offence as well as a charge of possessing the unauthorised offensive weapon.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright told Bieber he faces extradition to the United States for other offences if he is ever judged fit for release.