TWO Muslim prisoners carried out a pre-meditated attack on a fellow inmate in the shower block of a young offenders’ institution (YOI) in revenge for racial abuse.

Suleiman Mustafa held the lone victim while Aafi Mohammed repeatedly slashed him with a home-made weapon, a razor blade moulded onto a toothbrush handle.

The injured inmate suffered numerous cuts and scratches, including a 7cm slash to the cheek, from which he will be permanently scarred.

He also suffered a severed nerve in a little finger, leaving him without feeling, also potentially permanently.

Durham Crown Court heard the attack was carried out in retribution at alleged racist/religious taunts and abuse the pair, both practising Muslims, claimed to have suffered in the week they spent in Deerbolt YOI, near Barnard Castle, last May.

They were transferred to Deerbolt after Doncaster Prison, where they were previously detained, brought in a rule to house only adult inmates.

Martin Towers prosecuting, said the pair were seen following the lone inmate from the association room to the shower block on I Wing, at 6.45pm on May 14.

Following the sustained attack the alarm was raised and as a prison officer ran into the shower area both assailants left the block.

Mt Towers said Mohammed was seen on cctv calmly walking away, discarding the weapon, in a bin, and hiding his blood-soaked top behind a curtain.

Both were recovered and dna matches implicated Mohammed.

Mr Towers said the pair were serving sentences totalling eight-and-a-half years, imposed at Sheffield Crown Court in March last year, for an armed robbery at a city centre off-licence the previous November.

Mohammed, 20, of Moss Side, Manchester, admitted wounding with intent, relating to the Deerbolt incident, while 21-year-old Suleiman, of Netherthorpe, Sheffield, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

Laurie Scott, for Mohammed, said both he and Suleiman suffered racial and religious abuse following their arrival at Deebolt, which she described as, “a very white, male-orientated prison”.

“Both Mr Mohammed and his co-defendant very much stood out, and became subject to taunts and abuse due to their skin colour and religion.”

Shufqat Khan, for Suleiman, said he has “come closer” to his religion since he was jailed for the robbery and while he did go along with the attack, he was unaware his co-accused had an improvised knife.

Jailing Mohammed for a further eight years and Suleiman for 20 months, Judge Simon Hickey described the attack as, “serious, pre-meditated violence on a vulnerable victim in an enclosed area within a prison environment.”

Both sentences will only begin after their custodial terms for the robbery are concluded.