A judge told Durham Crown Court the violence was ‘grossly disproportionate’ after a man left the inmate he shared a cell with needing surgery for a broken arm
A prisoner who flew into a rage at his cellmate’s snoring has been jailed for three years for a sustained assault that left the other man with a broken arm and head wounds. David McLaughlin, 47, attacked the inmate at HMP Durham on 27 February 2024, Durham Crown Court heard. A jury cleared him of wounding with intent, accepting that he may have acted in self-defence, but convicted him of the lesser charge of unlawful wounding. Judge Tom Mitchell said the confrontation, whatever its origins, ended in “grossly disproportionate violence” that caused “grave injuries”.
The attack
Prosecutor Martin Towers said the victim suffered wounds to his right forehead, the back of his head, behind his ear and on his chin. He also had mouth injuries caused by his own tooth, two suspected broken ribs and an arm fracture that needed an operation.
In a victim statement, the man called it “the worst experience of my life” and said he was left badly scarred. He described suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares and pain lasting for months. He added that other inmates later threatened him for being “a grass”.
Defence and verdicts
McLaughlin, of Durham, denied wounding with intent and claimed self-defence. After the trial, which a public listing shows was due to begin on 14 September, the jury found him guilty of unlawful wounding on 17 September. He has been on remand since then.
Defence barrister Rachel Kelly said the victim believed a weapon had been used, but McLaughlin was never charged with a weapon offence. She described the case as one of “excessive self-defence”. She told the court he had found stability after his release in March last year, with a home and distance from drink and drugs.
The court heard McLaughlin has 85 previous offences, including 14 assaults. His latest conviction, in June 2024, was for putting someone in fear of violence, and he served 10 months in prison for it. ChronicleLive reported that he was in prison for harassment when the attack took place.
The sentence
Judge Mitchell said McLaughlin appeared to “reek of violence” during the trial and had gone “well over the top”. He said the offence was so serious that only immediate custody could be justified, and imposed three years. Unlawful wounding carries a maximum of five years. Time on remand is normally taken off a sentence.
Violence in prisons
HMP Durham is a Category B reception prison for adult men. HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited between 30 April and 16 May 2024, two months after the attack, and downgraded its safety rating from reasonably good to not sufficiently good. It reported that many prisoners spent at least 22 hours a day locked up and that a drugs market was fuelling violence. A follow-up in January 2025 found violence and drug use had risen further. The reports describe the prison as a whole and do not link those conditions to this assault.
Ministry of Justice figures published on 29 October showed 2,581 serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in the year to June 2026, up 2.2% from 2,525. Total prisoner-on-prisoner assaults fell 1.8% to 20,705. Serious assaults rose 11% between the first and second quarters of the year, from 770 to 852. The official definition of a serious assault includes fractures, injuries needing stitches and concussion, so injuries like those in this case would qualify.
