Inmate used spoon to dig hole to get into next door cell to attack murderer

A teenager at a young offender’s institute has tunneled through to a neighbouring cell to attack another criminal.

The convicted rapist is thought to have used a sharpened spoon to break into the cell next door to attack his neighbour, a convicted murder, leaving him with serious injuries.

It happened at Wetherby Young Offender Institution in Yorkshire on April 14, and bosses at the institution are now investigating how it happened.

Guards and other prison staff are being questioned about why the ‘noisy’ disturbance wasn’t noticed.

He used the spoon to scrape away at the concrete between breeze blocks before breaking through the wall.

The incident is reminiscent of 1994 flick The Shawshank Redemption, where lag Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, escaped by chiseling a hole in his cell wall behind a Raquel Welch poster.

A prison source told The Sun: ‘This is a major security breach. What is really worrying is that he simply got through a wall to launch the attack.

‘An inquiry has been launched to find out how the wall could be broken through and why nobody reacted in time.

‘Wetherby holds a huge number of vulnerable children. This is very disturbing.’

The Youth Custody Service said: ‘While we cannot comment on a live investigation, anyone found responsible for violence will be punished.’ 

Wetherby YOI holds up to 336 inmates, both male and female, aged 15-18. It has the highest rate of self-harm of any UK prison.

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