A judge has ordered a security review after a middle-aged defendant pulled out a craft knife in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court and slashed his wrist and neck.
Richard Davies, 48, a piano tuner, produced the weapon seconds after he was found guilty and sentenced to five years for raping a 58-year-old widow after a night out.
There was pandemonium in court as Davies protested his innocence and then drew the knife across his left wrist and the right side of his neck. As lawyers and members of the public scattered, a policeman grabbed hold of the knife and helped a security officer and one of the defence team to wrestle it from his grasp.
Davies, from Childwall, Liverpool, was still protesting his innocence as he was led, handcuffed, to the cells. His wounds were thought to be only superficial. Nadine Radford, QC, told Mr Justice Pitchers, the judge, that she was completely unaware of Davies’s psychological state.