A notorious rooftop rioter has been jailed for a brutal assault on a fellow inmate.
Convicted killer Malcolm Leggat launched himself at Castle Huntly prisoner Thomas McIntyre after he called him a “beast”.
The assault, which left Mr McIntyre scarred for life, followed a long-standing feud between the pair, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
Sixty-year-old Leggat, infamous for playing a leading role in the 1987 rooftop protests at Peterhead Prison, admitted a charge of assault to severe injury.
He was jailed for 16 months.
Sheriff William Wood told him: “Clearly you are a man of some considerable violence.
“This was a sustained assault and it caused severe injury and permanent disfigurement to Mr McIntyre.
“Whatever your reasons, there was no excuse for this level of violence. You should have expressed yourself in a less damaging way.”
The sheriff said: “A further custodial sentence is inevitable.”
Victim left scarred
Fiscal depute Lora Apostolova said the assault happened at the prison, near Dundee, on August 29 last year.
“Just after 6pm, the complainer was exiting a cell when the accused walked up to him and asked if he could have a word,” she said.
“As they started walking down the corridor, the accused pushed the complainer causing his head to hit the wall.
“His body dropped to the ground.”
Leggat began raining punches down on the prisoner’s face.
“He seized him by the head before wrapping his legs around him and headbutting him,” Ms Apostolova said.
“The assault lasted for about 30 seconds. The complainer used a cell buzzer to notify SPS staff.”
Leggat’s victim was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
He received four sutures around his right eye.
“He has been left with a scar,” said Ms Apostolova.
Face off
Solicitor Umar Hussain, defending, said: “Mr Leggat received a lengthy prison sentence in 1986 and was released in 2015.”
The court heard he was in the community for two years, before being put back behind bars.
Mr Hussain said: “Mr Leggat advises me that he had been having difficulties with the complainer for about nine months before this incident.
“He was getting verbally abused.
“It didn’t help that this happened during Covid when prisoners were not getting regular visits, and people were becoming hostile.”
The court heard that McIntyre called Leggat a “rodent” and a “beast” in front of other inmates.
“Mr Leggat wants to clarify that the term ‘beast’ does not represent any of his offending or previous convictions,” said the lawyer. “He has nothing on his record of that kind of nature.
“He approached the complainer, who was coming out of someone else’s cell, and asked him why he kept referring to him as a beast.
“Mr Leggat advices that the complainer said something like ‘I’ll take your face off’.
“This is what sparked the reaction from Mr Leggat. He genuinely believed the complainer may have had an item with which to attack him with.
“This is not an excuse in any way, shape or form.”
Ringleader
Leggat was described as a “ringleader” at the Peterhead Prison riots.
He was the last to surrender when the SAS stormed the building in 1987.
The year before he was jailed for the murder of 23-year-old James Sweeney outside a Glasgow hotel.
He got another 12 years behind bars for his role in the prison riots.
In 2005, Leggat absconded from Gateside Prison in Greenock and remained on the run for four months.
