Prisoner goes berserk and attacks HMP Humber guards 'because he didn't have a flat screen TV

A prisoner went berserk in jail and attacked three guards – because he couldn't have a flat-screen TV.

Luther Francis, 22, was serving an eight-year sentence for stabbing a man outside a nightclub when he was moved to HMP Humber in June last yea
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Phillip Evans, prosecuting, told Hull Crown Court: "From the very start, the defendant was jockeying for a better position on M-Wing, hoping to be moved to a different cell.

"The particular point which triggered his behaviour is the defendant had been issued with an old fashioned television in the shape of a box, as TVs were, and he wanted a slimline, flat-screen TV. There wasn't one available. Other prisoners were in the same position – they had to wait.Francis was in prison for stabbing someone with a screw driver

The burly Francis invaded their "personal space", and said, "with a note of menace in his voice", "Have you got a problem with me?" One officer thought it was an attempt to intimidate him, "and that's an officer with 29 years' experience", Mr Evans said.

All three replied "No".Mr Evans said: "However, the defendant rushed forward towards an office door and tried on two occasions to kick it down, much to the astonishment of the prison officers.

"It was a matter of good fortune that none of the other prisoners on M-Wing reacted to the defendant's behaviour.

"But it was clearly the duty of the three prison officers to try to quell this unpleasant outburst."