A CONVICTED murderer who blinded a fellow inmate in a brutal razor attack has had 11 years added to his existing life sentence.

Derek Pallas, 39, was awaiting trial for the murder when he carried out the joint attack with Abdul Kefia in C-wing of Durham Prison on Christmas Eve 2018.

Durham Crown Court was told Kefia told the victim that he was wanted in the cell on C-wing. It was a trap and he was attacked when he arrived.

Kefia pinned the complainant against a wall, while Pallas punched him with a clenched fist with a razor blade projecting from it.

He targeted the victim's eye, causing severe trauma and leading to him having to have his eye removed. 

Read more: Derek Pallas guilty of Peter Gilling murder as co-accused is cleared

Pallas, of Sycamore Park, Brandon, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, but lost a trial of issue over whether he had a blade.

He still maintained his innocence when he appeared before the court via video link from HMP Full Sutton today.

Passing sentence today Judge James Adkin noted co-accused Kefia had been sentenced to 13 years after a separate trial.

He added: “You have a worse criminal record, You have a conviction causing death by dangerous driving in 2005, a conviction of grievous bodily harm 2008 and you were a ringleader (in this attack).

"The guidelines suggest that any sentence for an offence committed in prison context should be consecutive."

The judge said a sentence of 11 years had to be served consecutively to his life sentence of 26 years. 

He added: "No one could not seriously suggest you are not a dangerous offender or did not pose a significant risk of committing further offences thereby causing serious harm."

Read more: Part of razor was used to slash fellow inmate at Durham Prison

Earlier, the victim described how he had to undergo life-changing surgery and had to come to terms with the fact that he would be left without his left eye.

In a statement read to the court, he said: "What happened to me on has changed my life forever.

"I can no longer judge distances accurately which can make the simplest of tasks, like picking something up, more challenging.

"I also have difficulty with my peripheral view which means I don't always see things as quickly to my left-hand side.

"This can make me more vulnerable to possible dangers approaching." 

He added, he became self conscious of people staring at him when he used a glass eye because it did not behave like a real eye would.

"I became so self conscious that I avoided going out and eventually stopped wearing it. Now I just leave it out all of the time."

John Brown, appearing for Pallas, said: "Having spent 50 minutes with him on the video with him I find it very difficult.

"He seems to want to not allow me talk about the case other than, he keeps saying he didn’t do it. He hasn’t had a fair trial.

“He still maintains it was not a bladed instrument and it was a punch. Clearly I said the him, the court has found it was a bladed instrument."

Pallas was convicted of murder following a trial at Teesside Crown Court lasting almost a fortnight in April 2019.

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That trial heard Peter Gilling, 39, was found with serious injuries outside Melsonby Court flats in Billingham in the early hours of Saturday, September 29 2018.

He had been stabbed five times and was later pronounced dead after being taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

Kefia, 29, from Byker, Newcastle, received a 13-year sentence for the offence last year.

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