A north-east prisoner has been given extra time behind bars after setting his cell ablaze with lighters he smuggled in.
Flames could be seen escaping through the top and bottom of Lee Hipson’s cell door during the incident at HMP Grampian in Peterhead on December 10.
The 26-year-old placed his mattress against the door and blocked up its fire hole – used to insert a hose directly into the cell – before setting alight some clothing in a bin.
Prison staff tried to use extinguishers to put out the flames, while fire crews attempted to flood the cell by pumping water under the door, but both were blocked by Hipson’s barricades.
The blaze was so significant that smoke could be seen in the prison reception before a sprinkler in the ceiling activated and put it out.
Hipson appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday where he pled guilty to causing the fire.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson said the prisoner had started the fire with two lighters he had smuggled into the facility via his private parts, including one “between his buttocks”.
Solicitor Christopher MacFarlane said a subsequent transfer to HMP Addiewell in West Lothian has helped Hipson’s behaviour.
He added: “While he has been in prison he has made efforts to attend courses and address his behaviour.
“He is working towards that light at the end of the tunnel which is his eventual release.”
Hipson was jailed for six years and nine months in 2012 for attacking two people with a blade during a Christmas Eve robbery.
But his sentence was extended last year after he faked appendicitis, slipped hospital security guards and went on the run for around 14 hours.
Yesterday Sheriff Morag McLaughlin said: “Obviously a prison sentence is inevitable.
“It is something you have done before, and you potentially put other people at risk with your reckless behaviour.”
She ordered Hipson to spend an additional 54 weeks behind bars.
