A murderer from Weston has admitted breaking another inmate’s jaw while he was in prison awaiting trial.

Curtis Ford was on remand at Exeter Prison when he carried out the attack on James Symonds in September 2020.

He went on to admit murder and be jailed for 26 years at Bristol Crown Court in January this year.

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

Ford, aged 28, of Baildon Road, 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 Mr Symonds. His jaw was broken in two places and needed three metal plates inserting into it.

Ford is currently serving his sentence at HMP Woodhill, near Milton Keynes and appeared before magistrates on a video link.

He told the 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 Crown Court, Ford pleaded guilty on the first day of the 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 30-year-old cousin Samuel Ford. He had earlier sent racist threats in text messages.

Samuel Ford took part in the attack but it was Curtis Ford who stabbed Mr Hanid repeatedly and then boasted "You've got to push it in and twist it because they can't sew or put the stomach back together."

Mr Hanid died in hospital from his injuries on June 30, 2020, three days after the attack.

Samuel Ford, also of Baildon Road, Weston, was found guilty of manslaughter by the jury at a trial at Bristol in December 2020 and was jailed for nine years with a three year extended licence.

Judge Peter Blair described the attack as 'brutal, senseless and appalling'.

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 stated 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."