A former paratrooper who shot dead two of his colleagues in Iraq was battered with a metal bar as he worked out in a high security hospital gym, a court heard. David O'Brien has now been jailed for life for attempting to murder fellow patient Daniel Fitzsimons at Ashworth psychiatric hospital, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Fitzsimons, formerly of Middleton, was jailed for 20 years in 2011 after killing Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare two years earlier. He opened fire on the pair with a Glock 9mm pistol while all three were working for G4S on a private security contract in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in 2009.
He had joined the Royal Fusiliers at the age of 16 and became a private security guard after leaving the Army. Fitzsimons had been working with dad-of-two Mr McGuigan, originally from Droylsden, and Australian Mr Hoare, but shot and killed the two men within 36 hours of arriving in Iraq.
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He was extradited back to the UK in 2019 in order to serve the rest of his sentence in this country, and was previously thought to have been serving time in Wandsworth Prison. Henry Riding, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that 45-year-old O'Brien collected a metal bar from a side room off the hospital's gymnasium - where he and Fitzsimons were working out, using a weights machine - on November 29, 2021 then approached him from behind and struck him to the back of the head.
The attacker managed to land a second blow to the top of the head after he fell to the floor before being restrained by a member of staff. O'Brien, of no fixed address, made 'significant disclosures' when speaking to doctors the following day - saying he 'had been hearing voices in his head telling him to kill his victim'.
He also told them he had constructed an improvised weapon by binding three sharpened pencils together and that he 'intended to stab his victims in the eyes' with it. Such an implement was then discovered in the convicted rapist's room.
A mental health nurse also reported O'Brien had told her he was hearing 'command hallucinations, telling him to kill his victim'. His previous convictions include five months in a young offenders' institute for wounding and affray in 1998 and being locked up for nine years for two counts of rape in 2005.
n 2012, he received a four-month imprisonment suspended for a year for assault before being imprisoned for 49 months for robbery and possession of a bladed article in 2015. While serving this sentence at HMP Garth in Lancashire, O'Brien made his first bid to kill.
He "casually walked past" fellow inmate Peter Harris on June 25, 2016 before approaching him from behind and 'slicing his neck' with an 'improvised knife' made out of a toothbrush and a razor blade. His 35-year-old victim suffered a 'life-threatening' deep 20cm long cut, but was saved by emergency surgery.
When interviewed by police later the same day, O'Brien made 'concerning admissions' - saying he would 'try to kill him again' and making repeated threats to kill staff members while in custody. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of seven years and two months the following year.
But the prisoner was then convicted of attempted murder again later in 2017, being given a second life imprisonment with a minimum of 10 years and eight months. This came after an attack on Dean Rawlinson on October 14 2016, when both men were serving at HMP Manchester.
Having only met for the first time the previous day, O'Brien asked him for a cigarette which they went to smoke in a shower block. The complainant was sat on a bench taking drags when the defendant charged at him and produced a weapon from inside his waistband. He lunged at Rawlinson, who managed to dodge the first blow.
But O'Brien continued his attack, inflicting a 12cm laceration to the left cheek which required surgery. The victim kicked out at him and managed to escape.
His assailant claimed afterwards that he had struck him with another toothbrush which had a razor blade melted into its handle as he was 'stealing from him'. Guards also found him with a four-inch spike with a cloth wrapped around it.
O'Brien chose to represent himself in court. Appearing via video link to HMP Whitemoor, a high security prison in Cambridgeshire, wearing a green Nike tracksuit, he could be seen holding his head in his hands during the hearing. The category A prisoner - who suffers from a personality disorder - referenced Fitzsimons' murder conviction as he addressed the judge, saying: "This man come out of the blue and for some reason latched on to me. This fella has turned up and is consistently latching onto me.
"I can't get away from him. He's banging on about his time in Iraq and how he killed these two workmates, he shot one in the face and one in the back. I don't care about that, I've seen it all. There were apprentice nurses in there, mostly female ones.
"The way he talked to them, he didn't threaten them but he was degrading them basically. He came to me one day and said, 'he's not sitting at our table no more - he stinks of p***'.
"We had a few clashes. I hadn't gone there on the offensive or defensive. I've made a lot of enemies over the years, but this man would not leave me alone and he wouldn't leave anyone else alone. I don't like bullies.
"I've lost control - on all these occasions, I lose control of what is right. I was given the help I was asking for too little, too late. I don't know what to say. I know how I feel, but I just can't relay to you.
"Human beings as a species - we attack, murder, all types of sin. Animals do it for survival.
"If I could give you an ounce of the weight from my life, then you would understand. That paradox between animals and humans, it becomes confused sometimes.
"The biggest regret is my family have had to be travelling all over the country for 30 years to visit me, I've got children who are grown up now. I've lost everything except my family, my faith and my word.
"I regret everything I've done. I regret things what people have done to me, and I forgive them.
"I've had two major, life-changing events. I feel like things are spiralling out of control and I've no way of stopping it.
"I want it to stop, I really do. I swear on God's children."
O'Brien pleaded guilty to attempted murder. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and seven months.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: "While he had his back to you, quite simply without any warning at all, you struck him twice over the head with a metal bar. Staff were quickly on the scene and prevented you from striking again.
"If they had not, the likelihood is you would have struck him more times. He could have suffered catastrophic injury.
"It is clear that he suffered a serious enough injury as a consequence of what you did to him. You indicated that voices in your head were telling you to behave in this way.
"It is clear that, in fact, was something of an invention by you. In reality, you were intent on killing him because you believed he was an annoyance or a bully.
"You decided you were going to kill him, and that was your intention on that day. In other words, you are not suggesting there was in fact any delusional belief by you or voices telling you to behave in the way you did.
"You have undoubtedly suffered with mental illness. It is plain that you suffered a quite appalling early childhood.
"It is self-evident that you are a dangerous individual indeed. It is likely you will never be released from prison."
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