Massachusetts prisoner sentenced in violent attack that put Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman on life support

WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has announced that Roy Booth, 42, pled guilty today in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of mayhem and armed assault with intent to murder.  The basis of the charges was his 2022 attack on Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman at MCI-Shirley.  

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Catherine Ham sentenced Booth to 13-15 years at MCI-Souza-Baranowski.  That sentence is to be served consecutively with a life sentence which he is serving in Virginia on a conviction of murder.

“Roy Booth’s brutal attack on Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman highlights the dangers that law enforcement, specifically Corrections Officers, face in their day-to-day work,” said District Attorney Ryan. “No one should have to fear for their life in their workplace. Fortunately, Corrections Officer Tidman,  having suffered horrendous injuries, and against all odds, survived this terrifying attack.”

 On August 31, 2022, Roy Booth used a metal pole to relentlessly beat Corrections Officer Matthew Tidman. Booth, during recreation time, took the pole from the weight room section of the gymnasium and concealed it by his side until he attacked Matthew Tidman from behind. He only stopped the attack once he was physically restrained by other Corrections Officers.

Booth had been transferred from Virginia to prison in Massachusetts in 2021.  He was transferred back to a Virginia state prison following the attack.

Tidman was on life support before making a miraculous recovery.

This case was investigated by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

The prosecutors assigned to this case were Thomas Brant and Yashmeen Desai. The Victim Witness Advocate was Susie Marshall.