KILLER paedophile Sidney Cooke is battered to the ground in a prison attack by a lag wielding a drinks flask, shocking footage obtained by The Sun shows.
The inmate is seen targeting fiend Cooke – dubbed ‘Hissing Sid’ – in a corridor before bludgeoning him to the ground and knocking him out in a savage assault.
This is the moment killer paedo Sidney Cooke is battered to the ground in a prison attack by a lag wielding a drinks flask
The inmate is seen targeting fiend Cooke – dubbed ‘Hissing Sid’ – in a corridor
Our exclusive video shows him sneaking up on Cooke as he studies a noticeboard
Cooke has shaved off his beard and sports a bruised head after apparently being attacked – pictured here in 2023
Our exclusive video shows him sneaking up on Cooke – seen in a cardigan, shirt and grey trousers – as he studies a noticeboard.
His attacker raises the metal flask above his head – holding its handle with both hands – before crashing it down on the notorious paedophile, who slumps to the ground unconscious.
After Cooke, 97, falls the con continues to rain down blows, smashing the flask into his face three more times.
Cooke – suspected of involvement in up to 20 child murders – was only saved when another prisoner raced in to tackle his attacker as guards also rushed to the scene.
Yesterday, a source said: “This was a really sudden and incredibly violent attack – and Cooke was lucky to survive.
“He had a long-running dispute with the other inmate, who had claimed Cooke had attacked him, egged on by henchmen.
“This was his revenge – and it was pretty chilling. It is no exaggeration to say Cooke narrowly escaped being killed.
“No-one really felt sorry for him afterwards but he was in a pretty bad way and needed treatment in the healthcare unit.
“Everyone in the prison knows what he is in for and what he’s done.
“He appears to be totally unrepentant and hangs around with like-minded people which makes him a target.
“But he had been arguing with this bloke and he – and a lot of people – thought Cooke had got his just desserts with this attack.
“Cooke hit the floor immediately and the bloke kept hitting him in the face with the flask.
“One or two more blows could have been fatal, especially given his age. It was quite a shocking scene – despite who Cooke is.”
As Cooke’s attacker continued the beating, three other lags on the landing looked on.
Cooke was only saved when another prisoner raced in to tackle his attacker
After Cooke, 97, falls the con continues to rain down blows
Cooke lay prone on the floor
Then an inmate in a grey tracksuit – and with dreadlocks – raced along the corridor and tackled the attacker off Cooke.
A female prison officer was then seen rushing to help, while a male guard trotted down stairs to the scene of the attack.
He helped to restrain the other lag – a man in his fifties – while Cooke lay prone on the floor.
Our source added: “Cooke was was saved by the other prisoner who rugby tackled the bloke off him.
“He acted on instinct when he saw an elderly bloke being attacked – but everyone was quite surprised someone rushed to help him.
“He ended up arguing with the bloke who had attacked him. He was asking why the heck someone had saved Cooke.”
After the assault, in November 2023, police were called – and cops are probing an alleged Section 47 assault.
Prison bosses disciplined the attacker, who has since been released from Wakefield.
The West Yorkshire prison has been dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’ and holds killers including Robert Maudsley, Jeremy Bamber and Roy Whiting.
Gang’s two terrifying decades of horror
EVIL Sidney Cooke was in a paedophile gang suspected of abducting and killing 17 boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
The monster used his job as a fairground worker to prey on vulnerable youngsters.
The former farm labourer from Gloucestershire was part of a network based in Hackney, East London, referred to as the “Dirty Dozen”.
Cooke and other members of the gang were jailed in 1989 for the manslaughter of 14-year-old Jason Swift who was abducted and molested after he went missing in July 1985.
His body was found the next year on a farm in Ongar, Essex.
Cooke was also named in court as a ringleader in the death of Mark Tildesley, seven, who vanished in 1984 after going to a funfair in Wokingham, Berks.
Mark’s remains have never been found.
Cooke was also linked to the killing of Barry Lewis, six, of Walworth, South London, in 1985.
His body was found the following year.
Paedophile rocker Ian Watkins – ex-singer with band Lostprophets – was stabbed in an attack at the Category A jail in August, 2023.
Our exclusive video comes after we revealed the first picture of evil Cooke in 26 years on Monday.
Vile Cooke – bidding for freedom and due to have his twelfth parole hearing this year – has shaved off his beard and had a bruised forehead as he was seen in his prison cell.
The bruise on his head is understood to come from the flask attack.
Cooke was also seen in a separate video apparently threatening a lag on a landing at Wakefield as his associates look on.
Cooke paces the corridors at HMP Wakefield trying to intimidate other inmates despite his age
The Sun’s story on menace Cooke in 1998News Group Newspapers Ltd
PA:Press AssociationCooke pictured in 1999 before his return to jail[/caption]
Ex-fairground worker Cooke is Britain’s most notorious paedophile and suspected of involvement in up to 20 child murders.
He was jailed in 1989 for the 1985 manslaughter of Jason Swift, 14, in Hackney alongside other paedophiles Leslie Bailey, Robert Oliver and Stephen Barrell.
But he was freed in 1998, sparking uproar – and Cooke was taken into voluntary custody for his own safety.
Cooke – suspected of other killings with a network of paedophiles – was then jailed for life in 1999 for the historic abuse of two brothers in the 1970s.
He was handed two life sentences, which he is still serving.
Evil Cooke was in a paedophile gang in the 1970s and 1980s and used his fairground job to prey on vulnerable youngsters.
The former farm labourer from Gloucestershire was part of a vile gang based in Hackney, east London, referred to as the “dirty dozen”.
Members of the group were jailed for the killing of Jason, who went missing in July 1985, and whose body was found the next year on a farm in Ongar, Essex.
Cooke was named in court as the ringleader in the death of Mark Tildesley, seven who vanished after visiting a fair in Wokingham, Berks in 1984. His remains have never been found.
Cooke was also linked to the killing of Barry Lewis, six of Walworth, south London in 1985. His body was found in 1986.
‘Weazle’ hanged
LESLIE ‘Catweazle’ Bailey was among the associates of Cooke to do time for the gang’s sick attacks.
He was convicted in 1992 of killing Mark Tildesley, seven, who was raped in Cooke’s caravan in 1984 — and the murder of Barry Lewis, six, who was abducted in 1985.
Two other lags hanged him at Whitemoor Prison, Cambs, in 1993.
Robert Oliver, now known as Karl Curtis, was another. He served eight years of a 15-year stretch for Jason Swift’s manslaughter.
Stephen Barrell got ten years for the crime and was freed in 1998.
Cooke – prisoner A9751AA – is due for an oral parole hearing in May, a month after his 98th birthday. It could be delayed due to backlogs.
It will be his 12th hearing after Cooke was refused parole and an open prison move in May 2023.
A written summary of the Parole Board’s decision said Cooke was “assessed as presenting a very high risk of serious harm to the public” and likely to commit a sex abuse offence.
Violence is UK prisons is rife – with latest statistics showing there were almost 27,000 assaults on inmates and staff in 2023.
The figure had jumped from 28 per cent on the previous year.
Experts fear staffing cuts – and a lack of experienced prison officers – have added to problems in jails.
Wakefield holds up to 750 high-risk prisoners – with most serving terms of more than 10 years.
It also has a Close Supervision Centre for the most disruptive cons.
A Prison Service spokesperson declined to comment.
Enterprise News and PicturesJason Swift was abducted and molested after he went missing in July 1985[/caption]
Photonews ServiceCooke was linked to the killing of Barry Lewis, six, of Walworth, South London, in 1985[/caption]
Cooke was named in court as a ringleader in the death of Mark Tildesley, seven, who vanished in 1984 Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
