Prisoners allegedly involved in the riots at the north-east’s multimillion pound superjail were caught on CCTV destroying the brand new facilities.
Footage of rowdy men, drunk on homemade hooch, was shown to jurors at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday during the fourth day of the trial against six former inmates accused of taking part in the riots.
Robert Gill, 26, from Newmachar, Stephen Sim, 31, from Stonehaven, Michael Stewart 31, from Forfar, Dominic Jordan, 30, from Merseyside, Sandy Mundie, 30, from Aberdeen and 33-year-old George Thomson, from Aberdeen, are all accused of banding together to form and “evil mob” at HMP Grampian on May 13, 2014.
All of the men accept they were being held in custody at the time of the offence, however they deny taking any part in the riots themselves.
This week prison officers who were working on the night of the riots have told jurors how the incident escalated as tensions grew between staff seconded in from other establishments and the inmates.
Giving evidence yesterday one prison warden, Colin Blackburn, was shown footage of the beginning of the riots, which started at around 8pm.
He was asked to describe what he saw.
Mr Blackburn said: “Two men are siting on a table and a group of prisoners are congregated around the pool table. This may not seem unusual but there is a far greater number than there would normally be there. Right now it just seems like normal behaviour.”
He said a minute later an inmate can be seen picking up a pool ball and rolling it down the C section of the Ellon wing.
Mr Blackburn added: “There are a lot of them drinking out of plastic bottles and cups. They are getting more rowdy, shouting and dancing in the section.”
The court previously heard that officers were first made aware there was an issue that evening when the could smell homemade hooch.
The court heard a few minutes later the pool table had been tipped upside down and one prisoner could be seen climbing the grill gate at the end of the section before smashing one of the CCTV cameras.
Prison warden Naomi Adams, who also gave evidence yesterday, claimed she saw Mundie assisting other prisoners to put bed sheets up over the grill gate in order to block the view of what was happening in the section.
She also claimed she saw Mundie throwing the cross trainer from the cardio vascular department across the section.
The trial, before Sheriff Andrew Miller, continues.
