A MURDERER from Somerset broke another inmate’s jaw while he was in prison awaiting trial.

Curtis Ford was on remand at Exeter Prison when he attacked James Symonds in September 2020.

Ford went on to admit murder and was jailed for 26 years at Bristol Crown Court in January.

That sentence is set to be extended after he pleaded guilty at Exeter Magistrates' Court to the prison attack.

Ford, 28, of Baildon Road, Weston-super-Mare, admitted wounding and his case was sent to Exeter Crown Court for sentence.

The attack on a landing at Exeter Jail was seen by prison officers and caught on CCTV which showed him punching Symonds, whose jaw was broken in two places and needed three metal plates inserting into it.

Ford is currently serving his sentence at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes and appeared before magistrates via video link.

He told magistrates: "I have 24 years left on my prison sentences before my first parole.

"I was on remand for murder and my head was not really there.

"I did not mean to cause damage. I'm sorry if it does mean anything."

In the earlier case at Bristol, Ford pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to the murder of 47-year-old Mikhail Hanid in Weston in June 2020.

He stabbed Mr Hanid 11 times after falsely accusing him of stealing a bicycle from his cousin, boasting: "You've got to push it in and twist it because they can't sew or put the stomach back together."

His cousin, Samuel Ford, was jailed for nine years for manslaughter.

At the time of his death, Mr Hanid's brothers described him as a "kind, peace-loving and sociable man who had some mental health difficulties".

They said he disliked violence, and suggested there may have been a racist motive behind the attack.

Mr Hanid's mother said: "He must have really hated him to cut him up in the way he did."

After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector James Riccio, of the Major Crime Investigation Team, said: “This incident has been recorded as a hate crime due to the racially abusive language used within the threats against Mr Hanid and I am sure the impact of what happened has been felt by people in the community.”