As the court ruled, the prisoner tried to kill prison officers

A “highly dangerous” inmate tried to kill five prison officers using homemade weapons including a sharpened plastic spoon, a court has heard.

Aklakar Rahman (38) allegedly repeatedly attacked staff at HMP Swaleside in Kent and Belmarsh Prison in London in September and October 2022.

On Monday he appeared at the Old Bailey, where he was charged with 20 offences, including five attempted murders, six attempted assaults on an ambulance worker and possession of sharpened pieces of plastic.

The accused denies the charges against him.

At the time of the alleged offenses Rahman was serving a life sentence for three previous attempted murders and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said.

He added: “(Mr. Rahman) wants to kill prison officers whom he perceives as ‘kuffar,’ which is a derogatory term for non-Muslims.”

On September 23, 2022, the defendant was held in a maximum security segregation unit at HMP Swaleside amid concerns he was trying to radicalize other prisoners to an “extreme version of Islam”, the court was told.

He was being escorted to the showers when he allegedly punched an officer in the face, shouted “Allahu Akhbar” and stabbed another officer in the forehead with a pen, jurors heard.

He then allegedly punched a third officer in the stomach and stamped on another officer’s foot, the court heard.

The next day, one officer conducted a welfare check and found Rahman standing naked in his cell, holding a three-inch piece of sharpened plastic, jurors heard.

It was alleged that while attempting to retrieve the weapon, the defendant attempted to stab another officer in the neck.

Rahman was later transferred to Belmarsh Prison, where he allegedly tried to kill three prison officers on October 23, 2022, the court heard.

Officers went to his cell to take him to lunch when the defendant allegedly threw a garbage can and ran towards one of the officers, shouting “death to the kuffar” and stabbing him in the head and neck with a sharpened plastic spoon.

While jurors tried to restrain him, the defendant also slashed the necks of two officers.

In the note, the defendant explained that he was angry at prison, had “lost his mind” and attacked officers who he believed were taunting him, jurors were told.

In a police interview, Rahman said he had no intention of killing anyone, was trying to provoke officers and that his mental condition was deteriorating.

The court also heard that Mr Rahman suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

The process continues.

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