HMP Oakwood inmate tried to gouge an officer's eyes out
A prisoner hit an officer over the head with a mug and tried to gouge his eyes out only to steal a £14,000 BMW from a driveway after he was released.
Paul Hobbs has been jailed for three years and four months for burglary and theft at the home in Lichfield as well as assault occasioning actual bodily harm at HMP Oakwood in Featherstone.
The 22 year old, from The Congreaves in Birmingham, targeted the property on Walsall Road between August 11 and 13 while the homeowner was on holiday in Devon.
He took the car keys from a cabinet before fleeing the address in the BMW.
Police tracked him down after recovering blood from an inside door handle and running a DNA check.
Officers arrested Hobbs on August 14 after chasing him when he fled in an Audi car which was also thought to be stolen at the time.
He pleaded guilty to burglary and theft at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday as well as admitting to an attack on a prison officer at HMP Oakwood earlier in the year, which he had also been under investigation for.
On March 20 Hobbs was still in jail serving a sentence for his second of two previous burglary convictions.
The court heard that he had acted aggressively when asked to return to his cell by officers when he kicked off about being moved to another ward.
Prosecutor Phillip Beardwell said: "His behaviour deteriorated rapidly.
"He kicked a chair in his cell and threw it at the door before adopting a boxing stance. He then started to come forward and took a swing at the officer.
"Both fell on to the cell bed before the defendant grabbed a mug and cracked the officer over the back of the head.
"He then started to gouge his eyes with his fingers."
The officer escaped serious injury but required three butterfly stitches to his head.
Recorder Abigail Nixon sentenced 'third-strike burglar' Hobbs to 30 months for the break-in and 12 months for the theft to be served at the same time.
She said: "This is what you do. Break in to houses and steal expensive cars to save getting a job like everyone else.
"It is a quick buck for you."
The judge handed him a further ten months on top of that for the assault adding: "This was your first offence for violence but assaulting an officer with a weapon and then putting your fingers in his eyes to gouge them out is quite a way to start."
