David Bieber: Police killer gets second life sentence for jail attack

David Bieber has been told he will not be eligible for release until he is in his 80s

A police killer who launched a "frenzied" attack on a prison officer, stabbing her with a metal bar, has been given a second life sentence.

David Bieber was serving a life term for shooting PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds in 2003 when he attacked Alison Smith at HMP Long Lartin in August 2017.

She was lucky to escape serious injury or even death, a court heard.

The 56-year-old was convicted of wounding with intent and having an unauthorised weapon at a trial in June.

He was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday having earlier being cleared of attempted murder.

The former US marine and bodybuilder used a potentially "deadly" homemade pronged iron bar to injure Ms Smith in the 10-second attack, the court heard.

He grabbed her around the neck, with an arm, and "launched a frenzied attack, punching out at her face with the handhold of the weapon, and trying repeatedly to stab her in the face," Judge Nicholas Cartwright said.

The attack left Ms Smith with "a permanent psychological medical condition" affecting her ability to carry out day-to-day activities, and work, the court heard.

Bieber claimed the attack was aimed at winning a transfer back to HMP Belmarsh in London, and that HMP Long Lartin, near Evesham in Worcestershire, had cut his painkilling medication.

PC Ian Broadhurst was shot in the head and chest in Leeds in 2003

Bieber was serving a 37-year life sentence for murder and attempted murder after firing a gun and killing PC Broadhurst at point blank range on Boxing Day 2003.

The victim and other officers had been checking on a suspected stolen car at the time.

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.

On Tuesday, Judge Nicholas Cartwright told him the penalty for the "unprovoked" prison attack meant he would not be eligible for release until he was in his 80s.

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

He was jailed for life with a minimum six-month term.