£5.5m payout for burglar stabbed in prison canteen

Inmate left with 'kitchen phobia' after being knifed by murderer

- Richard Gittins

A CRIMINAL terrified of kitchens after a murderer stabbed him 16 times in a jail canteen has won £5.5million compensation.

Government lawyers had argued a multi-million-pound payout would be "out of accord with what society would perceive as being reasonable", because serial offender Steven Wilson had "next to no history" of having earned an honest penny in his life.

But at the High Court yesterday, Judge Melissa Clarke awarded Wilson the payout and said the Government must pay his £546,000 lawyers' bill.

Wilson, 36, suffered injuries including a torn liver, fractured spine and lacerated spinal cord when convicted killer Patrick Chandler attacked him "out of the blue" at Chelmsford prison with a nine-inch knife in 2018.

He later sued the Ministry of Justice, saying it failed to adequately assess whether lifer Chandler was safe for kitchen work, which gave him access to knives and sharp items.