A CONVICTED drug dealer brandished a make-shift knife in prison after a murderer threatened him in his cell, a court heard.

Jamieson Richards-Boyce, 27, told the judge it was a “life or death situation” and that he was forced to defend himself.

Prosecutor, Stuart Ellacott, told Bournemouth Crown Court on August 21 that the defendant is serving a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for drug and firearm offences.

On February 11, 2023, Richards-Boyce was spending his first day in a new wing at HMP Winchester when a man serving a prison sentence for murder entered his cell.

It was said that the man threatened the defendant, so his cellmate handed him a makeshift weapon, created out of plastic knives and a razor blade.

Mr Ellacott said that prison officers found the defendant to be holding the knife as well as a sock containing a metal object.

Richards-Boyce was also charged with criminal damage and another bladed article offence for an incident at an ex-partner’s address on September 26, 2022.

It was said that he kicked and punched her front door as well as smashed her window.

When police officers arrived they found the defendant nearby holding a black handled flick knife.

During both incidents, the defendant immediately dropped the weapon when asked by officers.

Mitigating, Katie Porter-Windley, said in regard to the criminal damage, the defendant was “hot-headed” and upset because he believed he was owed money.

She added that one year before the incident, the defendant was victim to a stabbing to the back of his head and that the person responsible was never caught.

Ms Porter-Windley said that is no excuse for possessing a knife but that Richards-Boyce was concerned for himself.

Discussing the weapon in prison, Ms Porter-Windley said the defendant brandished the knife “in a moment of panic” and was scared he would have died had he not.

Richards-Boyce told the court that he is a “changed man” and is motivated to help others who suffer from significant trauma when he is released.

He added that he had no intention to use the knife and said: “My only intent was to protect my own life.”

Judge William Mousley KC sentenced Richards-Boyce to one year in prison, consecutive to his current sentence, for causing criminal damage, possession of a bladed article in a public place and unauthorised possession in prison of an offensive weapon.