A FORMER prisoner is on trial accused of fracturing a prison guard’s cheekbone and eye socket.

Lewis Whitmee-Craig, who was serving a custodial sentence at HMP Bullingdon near Bicester, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with one count of grievous bodily harm.

He is accused of punching prison officer Matthew Burrows to the side of his face on February 3, 2021, over a disagreement over a lunchbox.

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Whitmee-Craig, 33, formerly of Milton Keynes, has denied the offence and is expected to argue the incident was one of self-defence.

The trial started on Monday (March 11) and the jury heard that due to the coronavirus pandemic, prisoners had to be released from the cells section at a time to help prevent the spread of the virus.

On the day of the alleged incident, Whitmee-Craig’s cellmate had failed to collect his lunchbox so Mr Burrows had taken it to his cell for him.

However, when the guard reached the cell and placed the lunchbox inside, Whitmee-Craig reportedly said: “He doesn’t f****** want it, take it back,” before throwing the lunchbox out of the cell.

It was heard the defendant and his cellmate did not want the lunchbox inside the cell because there were no bins and they didn’t want the food to go off.

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After the lunchbox was thrown, it was alleged the assault ‘immediately followed’. It’s alleged Whitmee-Craig ‘pushed him back’ and hit the officer’s arm.

Mr Burrows is reported to grabbed the defendant's shirt to ‘get some control’ but ‘the next thing he knew he was on his hands and knees from a blow that had hit him’.

A witness alleged they had seen Whitmee-Craig pushing the office to ‘make space between them before throwing a punch’ which appeared to make Mr Burrows unconscious.

The officer was taken to the onsite nurse before an ambulance transported him to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

A CT scan revealed the fracture in his cheekbone and left eye socket and he needed a metallic plate and screws to heal the break.

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Whitmee-Craig was then interviewed by police in August when he told officers that the guard had allegedly ‘grabbed him and tried to squeeze his neck’ and that he had previously been a victim of domestic assault and it ‘reminded him of that’.

He told police he ‘tried to move away’ but the officer had grabbed him and it was a case of self-defence.

The Crown said even if the jury found it was self-defence, Whitmee-Craig’s actions ‘were not proportionate’.

The trial continues.