A thug who ended a prison officer’s career when he attacked him with a metal tray has been jailed for four years and nine months.

Nasir Muhsen was serving six-and-a-half years at Rochester Prison after rioting gangs ransacked businesses in London in the summer of 2011.

It was revealed the then 17-year-old asylum seeker had been housed in a £3 million flat in upmarket Kensington.

The council gave him and his family a £6,000-a-month basement flat in a Victorian mansion block near Earls Court.

After being put up in the luxurious apartment, having sought asylum in the UK from Iraq, the family reportedly trashed the home and were evicted for not paying their subsidised rent.

He claimed he took part in the riots because he was penniless and could not afford to buy food.

Muhsen, now 23, had denied inflicting grievous bodily harm on prison officer Steven Forster, but was convicted in March last year.

He had admitted assaulting security guard Omar Oktar outside the Cuckoo Club in London’s Mayfair on March 19 last year.

Sentence was adjourned for a psychiatric report because of concerns about his mental health.

Having served his previous sentence, he jumped bail during the trial and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court saw CCTV footage of the attack on July 17, 2015 which showed the prison officer leaning into Muhsen’s cell and then being propelled backwards before collapsing on the floor.

“My hands had just made contact with his shoulder,” he told the jury. “I got knocked back a fraction and then I pushed back. The last thing I can remember is being knocked unconscious.”

He suffered facial fractures and metal plates were inserted.

Mr Forster, who said he ran the prison, in Fort Road, Rochester, for the governor during the day, told how Muhsen, of Northolt, Middlesex, threatened other prisoners and spat at them.

He was forced to retire from the prison service as a result of the assault.

Andrew Fitch-Holland, defending, said previously he had grave concerns about his client’s mental state. He talked about his mind being controlled while in prison.

“These are beliefs sincerely held by him,” he said.

Judge Julian Smith said at an earlier hearing: “Bluntly, we are looking at an offence where a weapon is used to inflict catastrophic injury in terms of its consequences.

“It was an unpleasant injury and had a devastating impact in terms of the victim’s career that has come to an end.”

He told Muhsen: “As for your apologies for the harm you have done, they are belated and inconsistent with your conduct in the short period you were there for your trial.

“You blame not only Mr Forster, but also Mr Oktar. It is fortunate your mental health has so improved. What it means is there must be an immediate custodial sentence.”

Muhsen, who put his hand over his face and wept before being taken to the cells, was sentenced to three years and nine months for the Gbh offence and eight months for actual bodily harm and four months for absconding, both consecutive.