AN INMATE who threw boiling water into the faces of a prison guard and a prisoner in a wheelchair has been jailed for eight years.

Joel Deeny, formerly of Watford, left one of his victims with hearing loss and the other with severe pain after the attack at HMP Wandsworth in February.

Deeny was in custody following an incident involving a knife on Lambeth Bridge in London in November 2021.

The 34-year-old admitted GBH and attempted GBH and was sentenced to seven years at Southwark Crown Court on July 28.

He was also jailed for an extra year after pleading guilty to two offences of possession of a knife on the bridge.

Jonathan Storer, who leads on prison offences for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Joel Deeny intended to cause serious harm when he threw boiling water from a kettle over each of his two defenceless victims, one of whom was in a wheelchair at the time.

“Although the attacks caused severe pain and serious injury, the results of his unprovoked and callous actions could have been even worse.

“Assaults on inmates or prison guards are completely unacceptable, and wherever our legal test is met we will work closely with police and prisons to prosecute offenders.”

Deeny was previously jailed in June last year after admitting to making phone calls that were indecent or grossly offensive.

He contacted five schools or nurseries in the Watford area between December 8 and 14 2020 including Laurence Haines primary school, Squirrels Day Nursery, Watford Grammar School for Girls. The Grove Academy, and the Boys & Girls nursery group.

When he was sentenced to 20 months, Deeny, of Fuscia Lane, Ipswich, had already spent six months in custody.

Duncan Etchells, from Suffolk Constabulary, said last year: “The content of these telephone calls were highly offensive and sexually explicit in their nature and tone and would have been very distressing for the recipients to hear.

“They were left on the voicemail systems of various schools and nurseries. He showed remorse for the calls that he had made whilst he was under the influence of controlled drugs and wished to apologise to those for whom he had caused such offence.”