Inmate gets extra 12 years for stabbing prison officer at Garth Prison
Christopher Stubbs attacked officers with self-made weapon after cell unlock
An inmate already serving a life sentence for murder has been handed an additional 12-year sentence for attacking a prison officer with a self-made weapon at Garth Prison in Lancashire.
Christopher Stubbs, 30, formerly from Teesside, launched the attack moments after morning unlock on 14th July 2024. The prison officer, a man in his 50s, sustained three deep puncture wounds to his torso and abdomen from the improvised hook-shaped weapon and was also struck on the head during the assault.
Several officers intervened to restrain Stubbs, who continued to lash out and bit another officer during the altercation.
The incident began when Stubbs left his cell in an agitated state and moved quickly to the other end of the wing before producing the weapon from his waistband and attacking the officer.
At Preston Crown Court on 18th December 2025, he was found guilty of Section 18 wounding with intent to cause grievous harm, assaulting an emergency worker, and possession of a sharply pointed article inside a prison after a three-day trial.
Stubbs received an 11-and-a-half-year sentence for the Section 18 wounding and six months consecutive for the assault on the second officer. He was given a concurrent 12-month sentence for possession of the weapon.
The overall 12-year punishment will run consecutively to the 24-year tariff of his life sentence, imposed at Teesside Crown Court in 2016 for murder.
Stubbs refused to leave the court cells for sentencing, and the judge delivered the sentence in his absence.
DC Paul Brown, of Skelmersdale CID, said: “This was a shocking and abhorrent attack on a prison officer by a serving inmate using a vicious self-made weapon.
“The judge hearing the case acknowledged the danger that prison officers face in doing their duty and the bravery they show when dealing with violent prisoners.
“It took several prison officers to restrain Stubbs, and the judge described him as acting like a rabid dog in trying to bite them.
“The length of the sentence imposed which was ordered to run consecutively to his tariff for the life sentence, shows the seriousness of the case.
“Stubbs is a violent and dangerous individual.”