SIX prison officers haunted by the horrific killing of a Newport inmate won their fight for compensation after almost five years.

All six Cardiff Prison staff claimed they were traumatised by the sight of Colin Bloomfield's mutilated body after he was discovered in his cell.

Now, all of them are to eventually receive a cash payout after an eleventh-hour admission of liability by the Home Office.

But a judge at Cardiff county court criticised the Home Office for failing to act more rapidly - as the admission came on the eve of a five-day court case.

The men were all on duty in April 2000 when prisoner Jason Ricketts, from Caerphilly, strangled cellmate Mr Bloomfield, 35, then mutilated his body.

A spokesman for Lees Lloyd Whitely, the Merseyside personal injury firm which acted for the men, said the Home Office had conceded a "primary breach of duty".

It continues to deny, however, that allowing the two men to share a cell caused psychiatric injury to the staff who dealt with the aftermath of the killing. The legal team representing the men will now work to reach a financial settlement with the Home Office.

Solicitor Frank Rogers said: "The safeguards that should have protected the officers from this horrific incident were either not in place or in this case not followed.

"The officers have all suffered post-traumatic stress, and two have been medically discharged from the service."

Ricketts, 29, was serving five years for burglary and for breaching a probation order when the incident happened.

He had been in Cardiff for some time, but he had previously been at Ashworth Special Hospital, in Liverpool.

Mr Bloomfield was serving a six-month sentence for an offence which cannot be revealed for legal reasons.

Having received a vicious beating four days earlier from another inmate, Mr Bloomfield was placed in a cell with Ricketts in a unit for vulnerable prisoners.

One of the officers said: "What faced us was a scene of absolute horror. I have seen nothing like this before in my life. Blood was everywhere."