A TROWBRIDGE man has been warned he will receive a long jail sentence after he admitted slashing another inmate's face at Channings Wood jail in Devon.

Tommy Burton, 36, used a makeshift blade to inflict four wounds on victim Lee Dainter on March 13 last year.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court adjourned his case and ordered the probation service to prepare a report on whether he poses a danger to the public.

Burton, originally from Hilperton, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He also admitted two 'potting' attacks on prison officers by throwing urine and faeces in their faces at jails in Dorset and Oxfordshire.

He pleaded guilty to administering a poison to a female warder at Oxford in November last year. He has previously admitted a similar offence in Dorset.

All the cases will be sentenced together at Exeter Crown Court next month.

Judge David Evans said: "I need more information about the risk he might pose. The victims should be given the chance to make personal impact statements, although there is some information in the statements of the prison officers.

"Given the seriousness of the offence and the circumstances in which they were committed, it is only right they should be allowed to make full statements.

"The defendant's risk needs to be assessed using information provided by the prison authorities."

He told Burton: "You have pleaded guilty and you know what the sentence will be in due course. It is not possible to sentence you until more information is obtained."

Robert Ross, defending, said Burton committed all the offences when he was in the grip of a drug addiction which he is now receiving treatment for in prison,

Burton was in Channings Wood serving a 30-month sentence for a burglary imposed at Swindon Crown Court in May 2016.

He was caught red handed by the owner of a house in Devizes Road, Swindon, as he tried to steal a laptop. He has previously served a seven year term for robbing the ticket office at Trowbridge Railway Station.

Burton, who was living in Navigator Close, Hilperton, at the time, went into the station with fellow robber Gary McKenzie, then aged 26.

They ambushed 64-year-old ticket attendant Daniel Fox, bound him with cable ties, and threatened him with an axe and a machete in an attempt to make him reveal the combination of the safe.

He suffered a broken toe when Burton hit him on the foot with the axe but the pair fled empty handed after being disturbed by two teenage skateboarders.

Old Wilts police mug attached