Lifer killed again to serve his time with Britain’s worst criminals

A prisoner who murdered another inmate because he wanted to serve his time with Britain’s most notorious criminals has been given his third life sentence.

James Brabbs, 33, delighted in attempting to behead Taras Nykolyn, 49, who was targeted just because he was Ukranian and his English was poor.

The killer, who was already serving time for the murder of a delivery driver, wanted to be moved out of Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes to Long Lartin.

‘He wanted to be taken out of Woodhill to Long Lartin where there was close supervision centre and where the most dangerous offenders are placed,’
said prosecutor Amjad Malik.

His co-defendant Stephen Boorman, 34, celebrated in the dock with Brabbs when he was told he will eventually have a chance at parole rather than dying in prison, saying: ‘I’m so happy bruv.’

But Brabbs’ earliest release date will be in 2059 – when he is 72.

Brabbs was told by Mrs Justice Whipple: ‘You are not a man who learns from your previous mistakes.’

‘You have shown no remorse. You used an extraordinary degree of violence.’

Brabbs teamed up with Boorman and Jibreel Raheem, 26, and used two ‘shanks’ and a makeshift ligature to kill Mr Nykolyn in a ‘sadistic’ attack.

They were each given a life sentence with a minimum term of more than fifty years between them.

The pair were ‘pumped up’ and in a heightened state of excitement as they carried out the slaying in the prison exercise yard on June 5 last year.

They singled out Nykolyn because he was Ukrainian and spoke little English, the Old Bailey heard.

Nykolyn had been transferred to HMP Woodhill from Broadmoor Hospital after he killed fellow prisoner Wadid Barsoum, 66, in 2016, by smashing a TV over his head because he felt that his Muslim fellow inmate was praying too loudly.

The Ukrainian was jailed for life for manslaughter.

Boorman was serving a prison term for attempted murder while Brabbs had been locked up for murdering delivery driver Mohammed Saleem Khan, 36, by stabbing him in the throat in Easingwold, north Yorks, in 2012.

Brabbs was convicted of murder and jailed for 29 and a half years at Teeside Crown Court in May 2013.

He had also been given a separate prison term for attempting to murder another fellow inmate because he wanted the victim’s morphine patch.

Brabbs attempted to murder Mr Nykolyn eight months after his conviction.

Brabbs and Raheem both admitted murdering Mr Nykolyn while Boorman was convicted of murder by an Old Bailey jury today.

The judge said ‘They were bloodied and glorying in what they were doing.

‘The reason for killing him is not clear, it might have been that he was different, he was foreign.

‘They wanted to be about to brag about this killing within their small community of violent criminals.

‘The ferocity and the speed of the violence is shocking.’

Jurors had heard the brutal attack was caught on CCTV and a hand-held camera and they were told to ‘steel themselves’ by the judge before watching the footage.

The incident was so repulsive that hardened prison officers who witnessed the event have been left mentally scarred.

Mr Malik said: ‘The impact has been lasting and severe.’

‘These two men knew full well that their actions and their words would be recorded forever,’

The three killers snuck up on Mr Nykolyn and Boorman floored Mr Nykolyn with a single punch.

He was helpless and offered no resistance as the three men attacked him.

‘Mr Raheem knowing that Tara Nykolyn was in a completely vulnerable state, that there had been this forceful stamp on Mr Nykolyn’s head, Raheem had one of those improvised weapons,’ the prosecutor said.

‘He has it in his right hand and you will see him slashing that blade across Mr Nykolyn while at the same time he kicks into the head of Mr Nykolyn.

‘Boorman has the second improvised bladed weapon. He is bending down and he’s at the head area of Mr Nykolyn and he is slashing into the head area of Mr Nykolyn.

‘He was slashing and cutting into the right hand side of Mr Nykolyn’s neck, which was facing upwards.’

‘He was trying, I’m sorry to say this, he was trying his best to slice away at the neck of Mr Nykolyn.’

Mr Malik said the killers also had a long piece of cloth to use as a ligature.

‘They used that ligature, that piece of cloth, not to asphyxiate Mr Taras Nykolyn, but, you will see, it was used as a piece of material that could lever into the cut – into the neck – and to be used almost as a piece of cutting material going through the neck once it had been cut.

They stood with their feet against Mr Nykolyn’s back and pull on the ligature.

Mr Malik added: ‘They were attempting to remove the head from Mr Taras Nykolyn’s neck.

‘That is the nature of the savagery that these two men wished to indulge in.’

As the prison officers screamed out Boorman told them: ‘Relax, what’s wrong with you? You’re going to go home tonight.

‘I want to make sure he’s going in the ground.’

The prosecutor added: ‘It is obvious that these two men were obtaining pleasure and excitement from the violence they were inflicting on Taras Nykolyn.

‘Two men that were buzzing, that were pumped up, they were in a heightened state of excitement.

Boorman a was ‘strutting around, putting on a show.’

Brabbs told officers: ‘You’re gonna have nightmares tonight some of you I can guarantee it.

‘As soon as we know he’s a hundred per cent certified f**king body we’ll come out’

Brabbs, who changed his plea to guilty three days into the trial, was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 10 years, to be served consecutive with he two life sentences he is already serving.

Boorman, who denied but was convicted by the jury of murder, was given 35 years for his role in the violent murder, to be served concurrently to his previous sentences.

Raheem, who admitted murder, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years and 9 months behind bars.
ends