A TRIPLE killer stabbed three prison officers because he feared they were going to kill him, a court has heard.

Kevan Thakrar, 24, lashed out with a broken sauce bottle when officers at the high security Frankland Prison, Durham City, unlocked his cell door in March last year.

Thakrar, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, who was jailed in 2008 for three drug-related murders and an attempted murder, had barricaded himself inside his cell after becoming paranoid that officers were plotting to harm him.

The former shop assistant and student admits attacking officers Craig Wylde, Claire Lewis and Neil Walker but claims he was mentally ill and acted in self-defence.

A Newcastle Crown Court jury heard yesterday that after the attack he was taken to a holding cell where he says he was beaten and sexually assaulted.

Thakrar said he saw his cell door open a crack then Officer Lewis step back immediately.

He told the court: “I don’t know why she did that. They would normally open a door and lean forward so the door would open in against the wall but that did not happen.

“I did not feel safe. I thought they were going to attack me.’’ Thakrar lunged at Officer Wylde, stabbing him in the armpit.

He then chased Officer Lewis along the prison landing and inflicted a wound that left a shard of glass in her spine.

Asked by Joe Stone, defending, why he ran after her, Thakrar said: “If I did not run I was not safe; they were going to kill me.’’ The jury watched CCTV of Thakrar advancing on Officer Lewis, but when asked whether he intended to kill her, he said: “No, I just wanted to save myself.”

Mr Stone said it was likely that Thakrar was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder at the time after enduring a catalogue of racist abuse and assaults in custody.

Thakrar claims he had been called racist names by Frankland staff.

He was moved from Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire after a contract was put on his life.

Officers in their evidence have denied there was a culture of racism at the Category A jail.

But Thakrar, a Hindu, said: “I don’t know if they were just completely ignorant or naive, but all over the jail people displayed posters for the National Front, BNP, Nazi flags, whatever, and they did nothing about it.”

Thakrar denies attempted murder and wounding with intent. The trial continues today.