Skunk addict who beat me up is stalking us from jail

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Terrified: Lisa Voice, right, and her daughter Kimberly

A cannabis addict jailed for battering a millionaire music producer has stalked his victim and her daughter from prison.

Peter Thomas, 21, was sentenced to three years for a "horrifically violent" attack on Lisa Voice that left her needing more than 20 operations to rebuild her face. But despite being behind bars at Wandsworth jail, a report seen by the Evening Standard says:

• Thomas used a smuggled-in mobile phone to send text messages to Mrs Voice's daughter, Kimberly, 16 - whom he had been dating at the time of the attack - saying: "I am going to kill you and your mother."

• He used prison phones to make hundreds of calls to Kimberly and sent letters.

• He was found in possession of a mobile phone and cannabis.

• Prison chiefs admit phone smuggling at Wandsworth is "rife" and prison officers are "among those responsible".

Mrs Voice, 53, said: "It's outrageous this could happen - I have been failed by the system. The calls and texts flipped my daughter out and it has had a serious impact on me and my family's ability to recover. It's terrifying and I am dreading the day he walks out of prison.

"I have security round the clock and state-of-the-art systems in place but who wants to live like that - a life of fear?"

Mrs Voice, who made £29million producing records for stars including Tom Jones and dealing in property, commissioned an investigation by security company Haymarket Management Services.

Prison officials admitted to the investigators: "While every effort will be made to prevent Thomas using a mobile phone, this could not be guaranteed, particularly during the night." Inmates can use prison phones to ring numbers submitted to officers. Two of Thomas's numbers were mobiles for Kimberly.

The officers promised the investigators that Thomas would be monitored, barred from calling certain numbers on prison phones and searched more often. Haymarket's report has been passed to police.

Thomas has since been moved from Wandsworth, a category-B prison whose former inmates include singer Pete Doherty.

The use of mobiles to organise drugs deals at Wandsworth is so widespread that last year government inspectors asked London's prison boss to set up a jamming system.

A report from the prison inspectorate said: "The availability of drugs has increased significantly during the year. Landings have become open-trading areas and supplies have been coming in over walls into the exercise yards - a practice organised by illegally operated mobiles." When the attack on Mrs Voice happened in June last year, Thomas was with Kimberly - then 15 - and had been smoking super-strength cannabis, or skunk, at the family's £7million house in St John's Wood.

He turned on Mrs Voice suddenly, dragging her from her bed, throttling her and repeatedly stamping on her head and face. Her injuries were so bad doctors feared she would not survive.

She has had 17 operations to rebuild her face but needs at least another eight. Recently, doctors had to remove titanium plates from her cheekbones after they became infected, leaving her with haemorrhaging and blood clots.

Thomas, who was initially charged with attempted murder, was jailed at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in February after admitting grievous bodily harm. He will become eligible for parole after three years because he was deemed to be suffering from "cannabis psychosis" at the time of the attack. Mrs Voice said she was "appalled" he had not been given a life sentence.

She said: "The judge said he posed a substantial risk of attacking again, especially if he ever had another joint of cannabis. I hope that what has happened in jail will mean that his time inside is extended and he will not be granted parole." The revelations come as the prison system reaches crisis point.

Last week, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, launched an unprecedented attack, saying jails were so overcrowded that it was "difficult or impossible" to rehabilitate offenders.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "We do not discuss individual cases."

 

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