FOUR YEARS ago this month, a court heard evidence which sentenced a convicted killer to life in prison after killing a fellow inmate at a county prison.

Victor Castigador brutally battered fellow inmate and convicted child-killer Sidonio Teixeira to death with a rock in a furious assault, claiming it was his job “to punish evil”.

Castigador, 61, used a stone wrapped in a pair of socks to rain what witnesses called “full velocity” blows down on his victim and was pronounced dead on the way to hospital.

After carrying out what a judge called the “brutal, savage, merciless and unprovoked attack”inside HMP Long Lartin, near Evesham, in June this year, Castigador told a prisoner officer “he deserved what he had”.

Castigador, who is already serving life in prison for the 1989 killings of two security guards, was handed another whole-life jail term by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

The 61-year-old, originally from the Philippines, told detectives: “I’m wrong to kill somebody, but it’s my job.

“When I was in my country I was a member of a liquidation squad.

"Sometimes, you have to punish evil.”

Teixera, who was himself serving life for murdering his three-year-old daughter, was pronounced dead after suffering multiple severe head injuries.

The court heard how Castigador had taken a rock from the prison aquarium and made threats to his victim in the days leading up to the assault.

Castigador’s threats culminated in the deadly pre-meditated attack at about 9am on June 20 in a holding area outside the prison workshop.

A supervisor told how she suddenly heard “thudding” noises coming from the area.

When a prison officer intervened, Castigador immediately stopped the attack and sat quietly “as if the fury directed to Teixeira had been turned off, just like that”, said Peter Grieves-Smith, prosecuting.

The barrister said Castigador had “a history of violence” against other prisoners, stabbing a fellow inmate in the eye in 2006 and attacking another in 2011.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave told Castigador he had wrongly set himself up as “something of an enforcer” in jail.

DI Paul Hardman, of West Mercia Police, said: “The sentence indicates the severity of the attack, which was brutal and unprovoked.

“He showed no concern that his actions could ultimately result in taking another life and instead acted to settle a score in a calculated and vengeful way.”

Castigador was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on October 1, 2016.

Readers at the time reacted to the news of his crime.

DarrenM23 said: “We should make it like the SuperMAX in the USA for these people - little concrete room, let out once a day for an hour by themselves.”

philjanegroom said: “Bit pointless giving him life as he was already serving life. Nothing to lose.”