A murderer serving a life sentence in Inverness punched a fellow prisoner in hope of securing a move to a different prison nearer to his family.
Imran Shahid – who killed Glasgow 15-year-old Kriss Donald in 2004 – picked a random target and punched him on the head, the city’s sheriff court heard.
The 42-year-old subsequently got his move, but not the desired transfer to Glasgow as the Scottish Prison Service instead returned him to Grampian where he had originally begun serving his sentence.
Shahid was jailed in November 2006 for his part in the March 2004 kidnap and murder of the teenager by a Pakistani gang – the first ever conviction for racially motivated murder in Scotland.
The youngster, who was selected at random as revenge for an attack on Shahid by a gang of white men, was driven 200 miles to Dundee.
He was then taken back to Glasgow, stabbed and set on fire as he bled to death.
Shahid and two others fled to Pakistan but he and his cohorts were extradited to Scotland after a personal appeal to the Pakistan authorities by Glasgow MP Mohammed Sarwar and brought to justice.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, solicitor Ian Sievewright said his client would not be considered for parole until 2031 and his behaviour while behind bars would probably mean he was unlikely to be released.
He asked the court to impose a concurrent sentence after Shahid admitted assaulting a man within Porterfield Prison on February 14 this year.
The court heard he lunged at his fellow inmate and punched him on the head because he was “the nearest person to him.”
Mr Sievewright said: “He wanted to be moved from Inverness to Glasgow to be closer to his family after his earlier request had been refused.
“There was no injury caused. His efforts were successful, but not how he hoped, as he was transferred two days later to Grampian and he is still no nearer to his family.”
He added: “It was not deemed a serious incident by the prison authorities because he was only docked a week’s wages.”
Sheriff Margaret Neilson imposed a six month jail sentence to be served alongside Shahid’s current life period.
