A PRISONER who was found with a noose around his neck before his sentencing told the court he was ‘furious’.

Thomas Jackson, 28, was jailed for three years at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (April 5) for several counts including causing grievous bodily harm, criminal damage, possession of a knife, affray, and assaulting an emergency worker.

However, it was heard Jackson had almost missed the hearing after being found by staff at HMP Bullingdon near Bicester ‘on a table with a noose around his neck’.

READ MORE: Student avoids jail after selling drugs to clear her own debt

Speaking via video link to the court, Jackson said he was ‘furious’ with the prosecution’s evidence, stating it was ‘lies’.

“I want people to hear my side of things,” he said.

“I want people to understand that I’ve taken responsibility for what I’ve done.

“But there are things said that don’t match the evidence and people are not taking responsibility. I’m furious, I’m absolutely furious.”

Explaining the charges, prosecutor James Murray-Smith said on August 6, 2021, Jackson had caused multiple fractures to a pubgoer's face in an ‘unprovoked attack’ near The Barley Mow in Banbury.

The victim had five fractures around each socket.

Nearby car windows were damaged during the attack.

READ MORE: Driver avoids jail after causing death of man two days before Christmas

Two years later on September 2, 2023, in Barns Road, Cowley, Jackson was caught pointing a ‘fearsome, Rambo-like’ knife at a woman who was complaining about noise in the street.

Jackson was arrested later that evening in Balfour Road, originally on suspicion of attempted murder due to an unrelated double stabbing that occurred in Barns Road earlier that night.

During his arrest, he assaulted a police officer and attempted to ‘gouge his eyes out’.

The officer stated he felt ‘overwhelming panic’ and ‘genuinely believed’ he would lose his eye.

Speaking in court, Jackson said: “They were trying to arrest me for an attempted murder I didn’t commit, my head went west. I did not try to gouge his eyes out.

“If I wanted to take his eye out, I would have done it.”

He later apologised to the court, stating: “I just want to be a normal member of society, I want my past to disappear, I want prison to be a distant memory.

READ MORE: Men jailed for alcohol-fuelled attack outside nightclub

“I have to do prison, I completely understand, I’m not saying I’m perfect because I’m not.”

His defence barrister, Peter Du Fu, explained Jackson had permitted him to tell the court about the attempt on his life earlier that day.

Sentencing, Judge Maria Lamb said: “You are an intelligent and articulate man, I don’t regard your interventions as lacking any curtesy – it was helpful information.”