Six men have been cleared of rioting at the north-east’s multimillion-pound superjail.
Around £150,000 worth of damage was caused at HMP Grampian after an angry mob of inmates, fuelled up on homemade hooch, took over a section of the prison.
During the course of the 15-hour siege, the Peterhead jail’s brand new facilities were destroyed and officers were attacked before guards stormed the wing dressed in riot gear and armed with PAVA spray.
The incident was the first time the weapon had ever been used in a Scottish jail.
Over the course of the last six weeks, 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, also from Aberdeen, have been on trial accused of taking part in the riots.
It was alleged the men banded together to form an “evil mob” before lashing out at the property and guards.
All of them accepted they were prisoners at the time riots broke out within the jail, however they denied having any involvement.
However, the Crown did not accept the accused were merely caught up in the drama and took the group to trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
But yesterday, after almost 30 days of evidence, the prosecution accepted a far lesser plea to a single breach of the peace committed at the jail by four of the six accused.
They accepted Mr Gill and Mr Jordan were in no way involved and all charges were dropped against them.
Last night North East Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said he was going to table questions in parliament to ask whether the Crown was satisfied there was a sufficiency of evidence to prosecute these men.
He questioned whether, given they had already received pleas from those described as the “main players” in the riots, there had been any need to conduct a six-week trial over behaviour which amounted to nothing more than shouting and swearing.
Mr Macdonald said: “I will want to know from the Crown Office what the trial cost and whether they are satisfied that the trial was necessary. Will they be reviewing the decision to take those six accused to trial if they knew the standard of their own evidence?”
He also suggested this may have been a case where the men who were accused ended up being prosecuted because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The court heard throughout the course of the trial that when inmates started to revolt on May 13, 2014 the C section of the Ellon hall was shut down.
As a result no inmates were allowed to enter or leave after the riots started.
Witnesses told jurors that a group of prisoners, boozed up on homemade hooch, became rowdy after an argument started between inmates and prison staff who had been seconded in to the Peterhead jail from the west coast.
Soon their behaviour became aggressive and the C section was destroyed as cameras and gym equipment were broken, windows were smashed and cupboards ripped from the walls.
Solicitors acting on behalf of the four remaining accused yesterday told Sheriff Andrew Miller they had nothing to do with the riots and only shouted and swore at the guards on one occasion after they had been “indiscriminately” sprayed with PAVA.
The court heard the men acted out in frustration after being caught up in an incident they wanted no part of.
Sentencing the men, Sheriff Miller said he had to take into account the fact that they had pled guilty to a “far lesser charge”.
He sentenced Mundie, Sim and Stewart, who had all been remanded in custody during the trial, to 30 days in jail.
He fined Thomson £400.
