Teenage killer hurled boiling water on guards (2025)

A teenage killer has been handed an increased sentence after violently attacking two prison guards with boiling water.

Jayden O'Brien, 18, was serving a six-year sentence at HMP Wetherby for manslaughter when he attacked two officers while on a wing reserved for the most vulnerable and volatile prisoners.

O'Brien was jailed aged 14 in 2021 for being part of a gang of four who kicked a man to death in a graveyard in order to steal his Rolex watchon August 6, 2020.

He had kicked the victim, 34-year-old Stephen McMyler, once, then went on to receive a 27-month extension last year for violence at the Young Offender Institute (YOI) in Wetherby.

Now he has received an additional four years imprisonment, with Leeds Crown Court hearing earlier this week that O'Brien had stabbed two officers and thrown boiling water in their faces when they entered his cell.

Prosecutor Joseph Bell said that the offences, committed on March 27 2024, occurred when the two officers were collecting metal trays and knocked on O'Brien's cell door.

Detailing the horrific incident, Mr Bell said: 'They (the officers) asked if he was finished and there was no response so the cell door was opened and he threw out what they believed to be boiling water. Both felt immediate pain...'

Then, following the brutal attack, the court heard how O'Brien had sought to avoid facing further charges by offering a £2,000 payment.

Mr Bell added: 'The defendant was interviewed and remained largely silent. On 28th June after 6pm one of the officers had to return to the wing and work with this defendant.

'He went to hand him a towel through the cell door and he [O'Brien] handed him a piece of paper saying: "Once you have read this letter you can destroy it".

'It was a note offering £2,000 if he sought to stop the charges. The officer passed the note to security and told the police.'

In another violent attack, after refusing to go for exercise and remove his shoes for a search, the young offender 'threw a number of punches' before telling an officer: 'F*** that I know where you live I have eyes, I will see you soon and I will see your kids soon you cheeky c***'. O'Brien was subsequently taken to the segregation unit.

Then, on September 14, O'Brien smashed a window before charging at a group of youths seen walking across the prison yard. Using a sharpened piece of plastic he stabbed one of the members of the group just three inches below his neck.

Mitigating, Safter Salam said O'Brien should be sentenced for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, perverting the course of justice, assault by beating, and wounding with intent.

Insisting that O'Brien was a product of his imprisonment and adverse childhood, Mr Salam said: 'He has been in custody since he was 14 and prior to that was criminally exploited. His conduct in prison has been shaped by his institutionalisation.

'He is in an environment with continuous threat. Despite his record, he does remain capable of change, particularly if placed in an environment that offers trauma intervention...

'His upbringing was characterised by profound and repeated adversity. He was subject to a child protection order before being put in care. His behaviour in custody is impulsive.

'He is emotionally reactive. The assault occasioning actual bodily harm came about as he believed another inmate was being attacked. He says his actions were provocation.'

O'Brien's violence comes as Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi is currently under investigation for a similar assault, attacking 'three prison officers with cooking oil and makeshift weapons' at HMP Frankland in County Durham, according to the Prison Officers' Association (POA).

In 2020, Abedi was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life, receiving a record 55-year minimum term sentence before he could be considered for parole.

He isis currently serving at the category A HMP Frankland for assisting his brother in planning the deadly terrorist attacks that occurred at the Manchester Arena in May 2017.

The 'unprovoked' and 'vicious' assault on Saturday, April 12, resulted in the officers receiving life threatening injuries and suffering burns, scalds and stab wounds.

One source, who described the attack to The Sun as a 'horrific and a total bloodbath', claimed that one of the guards was stabbed in the neck once, while another officer was stabbed up to five times in the back.

All three officers were immediately rushed to hospital, with two officers still undergoing treatment.

A Prison Service spokesperson confirmed that three prison officers 'have been treated in hospital after an attack by a prisoner at HMP Frankland', and that a police investigation was ongoing.

They added: 'Violence in prison will not be tolerated, and we will always push for the strongest punishment for attacks on our hard-working staff'.

Meanwhile, The national chairman of the POA, Mark Fairhurst, added:'The POA will support our members as much as we need during this traumatic time, this attack displays the dangers brave Prison Officers face on a daily basis.

'Separation Centres hold the most dangerous terrorist offenders who simply do not wish to alter their ideology and as this event confirms, are determined to inflict violence on those who hold them securely.

'We must now review the freedoms we allow separation centre prisoners have. I am of the opinion that allowing access to cooking facilities and items that can threaten the lives of staff should be removed immediately.

'These prisoners need only receive their basic entitlements and we should concentrate on control and containment instead of attempting to appease them. Things have to change.'

The incident comes five years after Abedi was convicted of a 'vicious attack' on a prison officer in the high-security unit of Belmarsh prison in May 2020.