62-year-old man charged with attempted murder after police officer stabbed at Frankland Prison
A man has been charged with attempted murder after a police officer was stabbed at the high-security Frankland Prison.
David Taylor, 62, formerly of Willington, County Durham, has been remanded in custody to appear at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on September 3, Durham Police said.
The officer, a detective constable serving with Greater Manchester Police, suffered a single stab wound to the chest during the incident on July 23. The officer suffered critical injuries and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He was later discharged and is now recovering at home.
HMP Frankland is a Category A men’s prison, the highest level of security. It houses some of the country’s most serious criminals and in May the Sun reported that an inmate had attacked a fellow prisoner with a claw hammer.
Inmates being held at the jail include Damien Bendall, who is serving a whole life term for murdering his partner, Terri Harris, 35, her daughter, Lacey Bennett, 11, her son, John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend, Connie Gent, also 11, in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in 2021.
The Sun reported in May that he had attacked another inmate at the prison with a claw hammer. Other prisoners being held at the jail are thought to include Wayne Couzens, the then-serving police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, and Levi Bellfield, who killed Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange, and tried to kill Kate Sheedy.
Double murderer and necrophiliac David Fuller appeared via video-link from the jail for his trial for sexually abusing bodies in 2022, while Soham murderer Ian Huntley is also said to be held there. Liberian war criminal Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year sentence, is another notorious Frankland resident.