Vegan attacked by cellmate in phone row

A prisoner, said to practice“an aggressive form of veganism,”was attacked by his cellmate after an argument over the use of the jail phone.

Perth sheriff Court was told that 35-year-old John Hutton was “desperate”to contact his girlfriend after a call to her the previous evening ended in an argument. But the accused was pushed away by Duncan McLaren, who seemed to be on the phone“for a while,”explained depute fiscal John Malpass.

Hutton then punched the other inmate once on the face before being escorted away by prison officers.

that caused a laceration to his right eye, below his eyebrow.

the incident was captured on CCtV and it led to Hutton, of Ann street, Dundee, being jailed for 12 months when he appeared on indictment this week.

He admitted assaulting Mr McLaren, to his injury, at Perth Prison on March 14 last year.

A solicitor for the accused said that Mr McLaren was“very vocal”about being a vegan and as soon as milk or eggs were brought into the cell he would“put them in the bin.”

the lawyer added:“If there was anything on the tV regarding meat, he was very vocal about this.”

As a result of the assault, he was placed“on report”and wasn’t able to use the prison recreation facilities for a fortnight.

He also suffered 14 days loss of earnings.

sheriff William Wood said that the victim had“an aggressive form of veganism”but he told Hutton his record demonstrated he wasn’t “inhibited by authority.”