The ex-governor of a high security jail where three prison officers were stabbed by a triple murderer said today he felt "let down, dismayed and humiliated" after a jury cleared the inmate of all charges.

1. BROKEN HOT SAUCE BOTTLE
ATTACKER: GOVERNOR "DISMAYED"
THAT KEVAN THAKRAR HAS BEEN
CLEARED
-MIRROR NEWS

2. The ex-governor of a high security jail where
three prison officers were stabbed by a triple
murderer said today he felt "let down, dismayed
and humiliated" after a jury cleared the inmate of
all charges. Kevan Thakrar, 24, admitted stabbing
the members of staff at Frankland Prison, Durham,
in March last year with a broken chilli bottle but
claimed he lashed out in self-defence as he feared
he was about to be attacked.Thakrar, from
Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was suffering from Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of previous
prison experiences, Newcastle Crown Court
heard.

3. A jury took eight hours and 15 minutes to clear
him of two counts of attempted murder and three
counts of wounding with intent. He was serving at
least 35 years of a life sentence for the drug-
related murder of three men and the attempted
murder of two women carried in Bishops Stortford
with his brother Miran in 2007.David Thompson,
who retired as governor of Frankland last month
and was in charge when officers Craig Wylde,
Claire Lewis and Neil Walker were attacked, was
deeply upset by the verdicts. He said officers
Wylde and Lewis will not work in the prison service
again and that Mr Walker courageously saved Ms
Lewis from worse injuries by tackling Thakrar.

4. Mr . Thompson said afterwards: "I should
remind everyone that these officers and every
member of staff at Frankland and the prison
service in general are public servants. "Their work
is out of sight but it requires the highest level of
professionalism, courage and conviction. "It is
often unseen and under-reported. "They deserve
better recognition and they deserve better support
than we have seen from the outcome of this case.
"Prison officers have to deal with the country's
most difficult and most dangerous individuals and
they have to perform those duties within the
confines of the law.

5. . "They are not above the law, nor should
they be. "In this case, other criminal justice
professionals have been amazed by how
professional and restrained they were in
dealing with the assailant immediately after
the incident."Thakrar, who wept as the verdicts
were returned and thanked the jury, claimed he
was exposed to racism at Frankland. Mr.
Thompson said the injured officers were "decent
people". "They are not the sort of people who
deserve to find themselves in this terrible, hurtful
situation," he said. "Staff at Frankland and
elsewhere across the service will feel let down,
dismayed and humiliated by part of the criminal
justice system in which they serve.

6. "Colleagues in other professional agencies
have expressed their dismay at how a case like
this can be conducted in a manner where the
victims feel they are on trial, that they have done
something wrong, and then for the assailant to be
exonerated." Mr . Justice Simon thanked the jury
at the outcome of the case and instructed that they
do not have to sit again for 10 years. He also
expressed sympathy to the injured guards, adding:
"It was not part of the defence case in any way
that they brought their injuries upon themselves."