Shropshire prison attack trial: Accused 'was trying to help' victim

Steven Fletcher, aged 22, stands accused of causing grievous bodily harm against Mitchell Downes, alongside Paul Woods, aged 28, in April of last year.

All three were inmates of HMP Stoke Heath, where the alleged attack took place.

Mr Downes suffered cuts and bruises across his body as well as a collapsed lung after the incident on April 4 of 2017.

CCTV from the day shows Fletcher and Woods breaking down a barricade Mr Downes had put up in his cell door, and the prosecution case is that the two attacked him inside because they knew he was ‘a snitch’.

But both deny attacking him, and yesterday Steven Fletcher told a jury: “You can get beaten up for a lot of things in prison.

“I have been in jail for three years, I know how it works. A lot of things happen.”

The case so far:

• Alleged victim 'always on Black Mamba'

• Jail ‘was like an old school movie’

• Footage of two prisoners forcing open barricaded cell door shown to jury

• Shropshire prison inmate called ‘snitch’ before vicious attack, court told

Fletcher said that he and Woods as well as other prisoners broke down the barricade to allow Mr Downes’ cellmate in, and also that he was concerned for Mr Downes’ welfare as he had been smoking the synthetic drug Mamba and arguing with his partner.

David Jackson, representing the prosecution, said that Fletcher and Woods went to assault Mr Downes after they got wind that he wanted a move to another prison and an end to an arrangement with a fellow prisoner, for whom he would hold contraband including Mamba from time to time.

Fletcher said that he didn’t know Mr Downes was in any such arrangement, but that it would be “a common situation” in prison. He said: “I don’t get involved in that sort of culture.

"We were concerned for him because he had been smoking Mamba."

Mr Jackson said: “If you were so concerned about kicking the door in to help him, why did you do nothing to help him afterwards?”

Fletcher said that if Mr Downes had been hurting himself he would have intervened.

Fletcher, from Lancashire, and Woods, froim Liverpool, both deny causing grievous bodily harm. The trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court continues.