An HIV-positive man remanded in custody for beating a woman squirted a mixture of what he said was “s***t, p*** and a bit of semen” in the faces of prison guards, but was allowed to walk out of court with a suspended sentence.
Miles Atkinson, 34, had secreted the noxious concoction in a toothpaste tube, turning it on a prison wing manager and several guards in a surprise attack after they had escorted him to his cell in Her Majesty’s Prison Altcourse in Merseyside.
“Regrettably most of the mixture subsequently landed on the officers,” recalled prosecutor Edward Haygarth. The wing manager was sprayed on his face, shirt, and trousers; a male guard had a “considerable amount” sprayed in his mouth; a female guard was sprayed on the face, arms, and legs, and another woman was sprayed on one arm.
Atkinson is said to have remarked “I don’t get it, it was only s***t, p*** and a bit of semen” and asked, likely sarcastically, “what have I done wrong”?
His “humiliated” victims endured a period of high anxiety as they awaited tests to find out if they had been infected with the Atkinson’s deadly disease, with the prosecutor noting that “All three talk[ed] about being extremely worried, stressed and anxious, particularly until being given the all clear.”
Four charges of administering a noxious substance with intent were downgraded to one count plus three charges of battery, however, with the court accepting the toothpaste tube did not actually contain semen — despite having carried out no analysis of the substance — but only faeces and urine.
Judge Brian Cummings QC opted to allow Atkinson to essentially walk free from Liverpool Crown Court with a suspended sentence, despite previous convictions for affray, possessing a bladed article, public disorder, and battery against the mother of his child — and despite having conceded that he had committed “serious, disgusting offences”
Atkinson was pictured walking out of the court building smiling and laughing on a mobile phone.
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