Ex-prison guard issues terrifying warning after getting stabbed at SAME jail Manchester bomb plotter launched horrific attack on officers

Lewis, from Washington, Tyne and Wear warns that "someone will end up being murdered" if staff are not better protected.

Now, she is calling on the Government to introduce anti-stab and anti-slash garments - particularly after the attack by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland 15 years later.

Speaking about the incident that changed her life forever, the 50-year-old mum-of-two told GB News that she suffered from PTSD after the attack and said she still struggles with large crowds.

Lewis said she went to the door of Thakrar - who had been convicted for killing three people in a drug deal in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire in August 2007 - when the harrowing incident erupted.

Thakrar had previously tried to barricade himself in his own cell, however, upon arriving at the cell, the inmate flung the door open and started attacking Lewis and her colleagues.

She said: "He turned to me and said, 'I'm going to f***ing kill you.' I just turned and I ran."

After running away, Lewis slipped on the floor causing her to fall backwards. Thakrar caught up and stabbed her in the back with a broken bottle, with a shard of the weapon becoming lodged in her back.

"When I was lying on the floor, I thought was going to die, all I kept thinking of was my family and the two girls, and what would happen if I wasn't around anymore, and I just kept saying 'just make sure you stop the bleeding'," she told GB News.

The weapon had missed her spinal cord "by about five millimetres" which she said would have left her "paralysed or dead."

She spent three days in a "catatonic" state in hospital and returned to home, but the psychological ordeal of the attack left her with no option but to walk away from the service.

Lewis said: "I couldn't deal with the prison service. I was in such a bad state mentally, and [the prison service] did offer they did offer help. But unfortunately, I wasn't in a well enough state to want any anything to do with the prison service, to be honest."

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Upon reading about the attack by Abedi, Lewis told GB News she was "heartbroken" by the incident, adding: "I feel for those members of staff. It just brought everything back to me and my family.

"They've had to live with this and live with me being a changed person for 15 years now, and it just brought all the emotions back, which is just horrific that 15 years on, and this has still happened, and staff have no personal protection equipment still.

"I do still speak to people that work in the prison or who have just recently retired from the prison service, and basically, they're pleased that they're out of the service."

While she couldn't pinpoint the main reason why people were happy to be out of the service, she said: "I think when you're dealing with the type of prisoners that you're dealing with day in and day out, it is quite it can be quite draining...your hands are tied with what you can do too."

Speaking about the impact of the attack 15 years later, she said she still struggles with large crowds and said: "I'll never be ok."

"I'm in chronic pain, and this latest incident that Frankland has really re-triggered a lot of things for me. The last few weeks have been very, very difficult and quite traumatic," she added.

"I very rarely plan much, because I overthink things, and then I just decide to do nothing. Living with PTSD is like having a genie and a lamp on your shoulder, it can suddenly just pop up for no reason."

Despite this, she recently celebrated her 50th birthday with a holiday in Newcastle to watch the Newcastle United bus parade following their Carabao Cup Final victory over Liverpool.

She said: "That's probably one of the biggest things I've ever done in 15 years. So I was over the moon with that."

Now, Lewis, who is wife to husband Ged and mum to Sarah, 27 and Veronica, 29, has launched a petition to campaign for mandatory basic protective gear for all officers.

Asked why she set up the petition, she said: "I just thought 'I can't just sit back and not do anything.' You know, otherwise, where's it going to end?

"Someone will end up being murdered if things aren't put into place. That's why I decided the way to go for it."

A Ministry of Justice spokesman told GB News: "We will do whatever we can to protect our hardworking staff. The Lord Chancellor has announced a review into protective body armour and a trial of tasers in jails to better respond to serious incidents and we’ll set out next steps soon."