Police killer David Bieber convicted of wounding prison officer
A man who murdered a West Yorkshire Police officer before going on the run has been found guilty of attacking a female prison officer at the jail where he is serving a life sentence.
David Bieber, who was jailed for the 2003 murder of Pc Ian Broadhurst, was convicted of wounding Alison Smith at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
Jurors at Worcester Crown Court deliberated over two days before unanimously convicting the former US Marine of wounding with intent and possessing a home-made pronged metal bar as an unauthorised offensive weapon.
Bieber was cleared of attempted murder in relation to his attack on Ms Smith.
He claimed the attack was "staged" as part of an effort to reverse cuts to his medication for anxiety and long-standing physical pain.
Judge Nicolas Cartwright, who is due to sentence Bieber, was told the 56-year-old is serving a 37-year minimum term for murder and faces extradition to the United States for other offences if he is ever judged safe for release in the UK.
A cold blooded execution
On Boxing Day 2003, unarmed traffic officers Ian Broadhurst and Neil Roper saw Bieber's stolen BMW car parked at the junction of Grange Park Avenue and Dib Lane in Leeds.
They identified the number plates as false and asked him to accompany them to the police car, where Bieber sat in the back seat.
They called for backup, and as Roper moved to handcuff Bieber, he drew a 9mm handgun and fired four shots at the officers, who tried to flee.
Roper was hit twice in the shoulder and abdomen, but managed to get away. Broadhurst was shot once in the back and immobilised.
Bieber then walked over to where Broadhurst was lying, and fired a fifth shot into his head at point blank range. It was the first fatal shooting of an English police officer for over eight years.
Bieber, who was facing imprisonment for various offences in the UK and possible extradition to Florida, went on the run but was captured following a nationwide manhunt.
He was given a whole life sentence. In 2008 the sentence was reduced to a minimum term of 37 years.
After his conviction, it emerged that Bieber had been taken to hospital in Leeds under armed guard last week, during his trial.
As jurors were informed of Bieber's criminal past, Judge Nicolas Cartwright told jurors at Worcester Crown Court: "He is a high-risk prisoner who can't be taken outside prison without an armed police escort.
"Of course if he is going anywhere under armed police escort, the fewest people that can be told, the better.
"So that's why it was simply a mystery as to why he was not here (by video-link)."
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