A prisoner caused thousands of pounds of damage to two of his cells after obtaining drugs in jail.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, 29-year-old Jason Cochrane of Windsor Place, Conon Bridge, was imprisoned for five months after admitting a charge of vandalism.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Cochrane was in custody at Porterfield Prison in Inverness on August 22 last year when the incident occurred.
Fiscal depute Ross Carvel told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood that a prison officer went to Cochrane’s cell after a report that Cochrane was damaging it.
When he got there, Cochrane was holding a long bolt in his hand and then began smashing the windows with it, Mr Carvel said.
Mr Carvel went on: “The spyhole was also damaged so a number of other members of staff were called to remove Cochrane from the cell.
“They had to put on their protective safety uniforms to do this. Cochrane then became unresponsive but recovered and was told he was being moved to another cell.
“He said that he would smash up that cell as well and he was true to his word, doing exactly that.
“He pulled a shelf off a wall and again damaged windows with it. Officers had to monitor him to ensure he did not harm himself. In total, £3,062.40p worth of damage was caused.”
Defence solicitor Graham Mann said: “He does not have a clear recollection of this. He had been given a large number of pills in the prison. But that is no excuse for his behaviour.”
Sheriff Fleetwood was told that Cochrane was already on a drug treatment and testing order and allowed that to continue.
But he said prison was the only alternative for the offence.
