A prisoner left permanently disfigured after he was viciously attacked by another inmate at Wheatfield prison has been awarded damages of €150 thousand.

The High Court has delivered a landmark ruling in which it has found the prison authorities and the State failed in their duty of care to 34-year-old Peter Creighton.

The former inmate was repeatedly slashed on the face and body in an unprovoked attack at Wheatfield prison on 19 January 2003.

It happened while he was amongst around 15 prisoners waiting for their morning dose of methadone by an area of the jail known as ‘the cage’.

He has been left with numerous scars including one that runs from his nose to his right ear. He was serving a 4 years sentence at the time.

Creighton, with an address in Clondalkin, Dublin, sued the State and Wheatfield prison alleging they had been negligent and that they had failed in their duty to protect him.

Images of injuries sustained by Peter Creighton

He was awarded €40,000 in the High Court but the State appealed to the Supreme Court and the case was remitted back to the High Court for a re-trial.

The action was heard again last February and the former prisoner has won his case for a second time. He has been awarded damages of €150,000.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill found the authorities were at fault, firstly for allowing too many prisoners to congregate in the space beside 'the cage', and secondly for not putting netting around the prison yard where the weapon used in the attack was most likely thrown in over a wall.

The State had rejected criticisms of the prison regime and had contended that all necessary care was taken to ensure the safety of the prisoner.

It had also been argued that it is not possible in an inherently dangerous place such as a prison, to guarantee the safety of an inmate and ensure his protection from attacks by other prisoners. The defendants had claimed the blade attack was planned and could have happened in any open part of the prison such as the gym, the yard, the workshop, the food area or the church.

Peter Creighton's solicitor Gerry Burns said it is 'the first case in which it has been held by a court that the prison authorities have a duty of care to inmates to ensure adequate steps are taken in relation to weapons being found and used in prisons'.

'It has brought an end to a very long trial. It brings closure', he told reporters outside the Four Courts.

Pictured above is Peter Creighton's solicitor Gerry Burns