A thug jailed for causing £30,000 of damage in a town centre rampage has appeared back in court after attacking a prison officer.
Callum Packman punched Martin Brazier in the ear because he was annoyed he’d been locked out of his cell at HMP Elmley on Sheppey.
The violent 24-year-old, who “can’t control his anger,” has been in and out of prison several times and is currently serving a sentence for smashing windows belonging to a number of businesses in Maidstone while topless and armed with a fire extinguisher.
Page and Wells estate agents, PureGym, Coral, Knight Edwards, the Real Eating Co and Kokkoro, all in King Street, were targeted on May 11, as was Sainsbury’s supermarket in Romney Place.
For that he admitted 11 counts of criminal damage, as well as two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, a public order offence and burglary and was jailed for a total of 28 months and ordered to pay £7,000 in compensation.
But this week (July 23) Packman appeared back in court via video link, this time to admit assaulting an emergency worker.
Medway Magistrates’ Court heard that on October 18 last year, staff at HMP Elmley had called for assistance to bring an enraged Packman under control.
However, as Mr Brazier rushed to help his colleagues, he was struck by Packman in the left ear, which made him tumble backwards..
When he was checked over, he also had blood behind his ear, and his blood pressure had risen, and his pupils were dilated.
Victoria Aked, prosecuting, told the court: “The victim has been in his post for 26 years and he is the senior officer on house block one, which is the first night centre for inmates.
“He (Packman) had been put into that section because of his behaviour at HMP Elmley.
“The officer heard shouts for assistance from other officers dealing with him, as he’s a very violent offender and can’t control his anger.”
Magistrates were told that, as Mr Brazier tried to assist his colleagues in bringing Packman under control, he was assaulted by the inmate.
Ms Aked added: “He took a punch to the left ear and he was in immediate pain.
“He also stumbled back on his bottom and was left with a nasty bruise, and when his colleagues checked his ear, he had bleeding behind his ear, his pupils were dilated, and his blood pressure was high.”
The court also heard officer Brazier wrote a victim impact statement in which he said he always treated the inmates with respect and that he expected to be respected back, and that he didn’t come to work to get assaulted.
He also said the bruise on his backside was sore and he had trouble sleeping for four nights.
The prosecutor also told the court Packman, who hails from the Dover area, had an extensive list of previous convictions and had been jailed on several occasions.
She added: “He was last jailed for going on a rampage with a fire extinguisher, and his criminal record started as a juvenile.
“He’s got previous for battering officers, other violent convictions and the record is littered with assaults on emergency workers.
“He has a demonstrable history of violence and has been jailed for it before, and most recently, he was jailed for the fire extinguisher offences.”
Jennifer Stanbury, defending, said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
She added: “He’s a serving prisoner and he got 28 months’ custody on July 4, at Maidstone Crown Court.
“In the prison (when the assault happened), he was complaining about being locked out of his cell and he accepts not handling it in the right way.
“He is sorry for the trouble caused to Mr Brazier, and because he’s a serving prisoner, you can only impose custody.”
Magistrates agreed the offence was so serious that it passed the custody threshold, especially with his past record of attacks on emergency workers.
As a result, they jailed Packman for eight weeks for the offence, but said it would run concurrently to the sentence he is currently serving.
They also ordered him to pay Mr Brazier £200 compensation.
