Teen killer painted smile on his face with blood before attacking Leeds prison officers
Young offender continues to have time in custody lengthened
A young killer painted a smile on his face with his own blood before a violent outburst which left five prison officers injured.
Jayden O’Brien was serving his time at YOI Wetherby after being convicted of manslaughter in 2021, but has continued to receive sentence extensions for violence in custody.
The 19-year-old was found guilty of attacking the five officers during one incident in May last year. He also admitted other offences from separate offences having been moved to HMP Hull, including possessing a phone, cannabis and a knife.
Leeds Crown Court heard that at around midnight on May 20 last year, he buzzed for assistance from staff at Wetherby, saying he had been self harming.
Officers went to his room, but he had covered the observation window. When they finally entered, he had superficial cuts across his arms with his clothes covered in blood.
He had also painted the smile on his face with the blood.
When the nurse came to see him, he jumped up and tried to run out of the room. As officers tried to stop him, he punched one officer, then swung and connected with another.
He then agreed to behave, but headbutted a third officer to the side of the head, kicked another in the groin and a fifth to the knee.
O’Brien refused to admit his wrongdoing but was found guilty after a magistrates trial of five counts of assaults on emergency workers.
Having been moved to HMP Hull he was then caught with £50 of cannabis and the iPhone in his cell in September last year, along with a charger under his bed.
Two months later an improvised weapon was found in his bed sheets, which he said was for his own protection.
O’Brien has 11 previous convictions for 27 offences.
He had been part of a gang killed a man in a church yard in Lancashire to steal his Rolex watch, for which he received a six-year sentence for manslaughter.
But since then he has amassed a long list of convictions for possessing weapons or assaults in prison. It culminated in a new four-year sentence last year after he threw boiling water in a officer’s face at Wetherby.
He appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP Doncaster.
Mitigating, Safter Salam said he has since improved having been removed from YOI Wetherby.
He said that even children’s services had been against O’Brien being housed at Wetherby after his conviction, saying he needed a more “therapeutic environment”.
Mr Safter said the concerns were clearly “well founded”, given the amount of offences he has committed.
He said that he had suffered emotional abuse at the institute, had serious mental health issues and self harmed. He added that his childhood had been punctuated by “instability, trauma and neglect”.
Judge Penelope Belcher told O’Brien: “If this carries on you are potentially looking at spending your life in custody.
“It would be an utter waste but it’s a matter for you to consider.”
She gave him a new 18-month sentence.