A man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder following a serious assault at HMP Norwich in which two people were injured.

Cairo Adams, 21 and from London, is accused of attacking two prison officers with a bladed weapon on June 11.

Adams, c/o HMP Whitemoor, is due to appear before Norwich Magistrates Court on Thursday, November 16..

The incident involved a prison officer who had been working there for less than a week when he suffered a neck injury after being attacked by an inmate.

The officer, believed to be in his 40s, was taken to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) after the attack on June 11 with injuries to his neck, jaw and hands.

A prison spokeswomen said at the time: 'We do not tolerate any violence against staff who work in our prisons. When incidents like this occur we will always work closely with the police to push for the strongest possible punishment.'

Two other officers were hurt in the attack.

In the six months to June this year there were a total of 151 assaults reported in HMP Norwich.

The latest figures from the MoJ show there were 73 attacks on staff in the prison last year, more than treble the number in 2013.

And there was a 124pc increase in the total number of assaults in HMP Norwich from 2013 to 2016.

The rise in attacks has been blamed on overcrowding and staff shortages.

MoJ figures show staffing levels have been cut at HMP Norwich from 380 in March 2014 to 304 by March this year.

An MoJ spokesman said: 'We have implemented a range of measures to increase safety across the estate, including the provision of body-worn cameras, the installation of CCTV and extra training for officers.

'We do not underestimate the challenges faced by officers and are fully committed to making prisons safer.'

In November last year the MoJ said it would recruit an extra 2,500 prison officers.