A man who abused his baby son so badly he had to have his legs amputated has been beaten and held hostage by fellow inmates in prison.

Tony Smith, 47, was attacked with ‘a sock filled with tuna cans and metal bars’ by two inmates who tied him to a chair at Swaleside Prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Smith, who was jailed alongside his girlfriend Jody Simpson, 24, for nearly torturing their baby son, also called Tony, to death, suffered a fractured eye socket, broken ribs and jaw in the attack.

Tony Smith was beaten so hard that ‘he’s lucky he didn’t die’, according to a prison insider (Picture: Kent Police)

Baby Tony Smith had septicaemia and eight limb fractures when he was 41 days old

A witness told the Daily Star that Smith was ‘lucky to be alive’ after being ‘wrongly housed’ in a wing for vulnerable prisoner where the attack took place on 7 August.


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The insider said: ‘They came into contact with Smith and held him hostage in his own cell for four hours.



‘During that time they tied him to a chair and attacked him with a sock filled with tuna cans and metal bars. They also stamped all over him.

‘Prison guards managed to get them off in the nick of time – he’s lucky he didn’t die. The men are now in segregation pending an investigation as to how this happened.’

Smith is believed to have been ‘wrongly’ taken to a wing for vulnerable prisoner at HMP Swaleside in Kent, where he was attacked (Picture: PA)

Baby Tony was only 41 days old in 2014 when he had to fight for his life after his parents beat him so hard he suffered from septicaemia and eight fractured bones.

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Tony had to amputate both his legs after Smith and Simpson left him in a critical condition for nine hours before taking him to the hospital – later explaining that they were waiting for a plumber.

During their court case, Maidstone Crown Court heard how Tony’s thighbones, lower legs, right ankle, left thumb and two bones in his big toe were fractured.

The injuries would have been caused by yanking, pulling and twisting, with force up to 10 days before he was taken to hospital, experts concluded at the time.

Baby Tony’s mum Jody Simpson, 24, has also been jailed for 10 years (Picture: Kent Police)

Tony’s legs had to be amputated after they waited nine hours after noticing he had turned ill before taking him to a hospital

Tony, now three years old, has since been adopted by a loving new family.

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Smith, a heroin addict, and Simpson were jailed for 10 years each in February this year.

A Prison Service spokesman said of the attack on Smith: ‘Staff resolved an incident involving three prisoners at HMP Swaleside on 7 August.

‘The incident has been referred to the police so it would be inappropriate to comment further.’

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