AN inmate serving a life sentence for a double murder took out his frustration at the wait for an appeal hearing on a passing prison officer.

Robert Firkins threw the contents of a protein shaker filled with faeces in the direction of the officer as he passed on a landing at Durham’s Frankland Prison, at 3.40pm, on June 5, last year.

Durham Crown Court was told the officer saw Firkins unscrewing the shaker cap as he approached in the opposite direction.

Unaware of its contents, or the prisoner’s intention, he took no evading action and found himself covered in the waste material from his face to his left shoulder and neck.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said the inmate walked away, but the officer raised the alarm and Firkins was apprehended.

The protein shaker was recovered by prison staff and analysis found the brown liquid it contained was faecal matter.

Mr Dryden said the officer targeted had to go to hospital for his blood to be taken and other checks.

He was said to have felt humiliated and embarrassed but was worried to tell his partner and feared being infected, resulting in him taking more than six weeks leave from work.

Mr Dryden added that Firkins, who is serving a life sentence imposed in February 2006 for the November 2003 murder of an elderly couple in Cornwall, refused to be interviewed about the Frankland incident.

But, appearing via video link to the court from HMP Full Sutton, near York, to where he has since been transferred, the 49-year-old defendant, originally from Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, admitted a charge of administering a noxious substance.

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Farrhat Arshad, mitigating, said despite his case being referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to the Court of Appeal, in July 2020, by the time of the incident, almost a year later, no progress had been made in achieving an appeal hearing.

Miss Arshad said even now, no appeal papers have been received to enable it to go ahead and he is still waiting to hear when an appeal might be heard.

She said this led to a build up of, “frustration and stress”, having protested his innocence from the beginning of proceedings against him.

“It really is the history of the appeal that explains why he behaved like he did.

“He accepts it was bad behaviour and he indicated a guilty plea at an early stage. He’s never had any intention to fight this offence.”

Judge Ray Singh told Firkins there was no mitigation in his appeal frustration leading to him carrying out this attack.

“There’s absolutely no justification for what you did on June 5, last year.

“You must have planned this episode. It wasn’t spontaneous and was without any provocation whatsoever.”

Imposing two-year’s extension to his sentence, Judge Singh said it must follow on only at the expiry of the minimum term for the murder of 26 years.

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