Extra time in jail for chucking table

An inmate, serving a lengthy jail term for biting a man’s ears and scarring him for life, threw a table at an officer in Perth’s prison.

The incident led to Jack Elms (25) having his sentence extended by another six months.

Although the piece of furniture struck Alexander McIntosh on the body, he escaped injury, Perth Sheriff Court was told.

Elms admitted the assault which took place at the Edinburgh Road jail on February 26, 2019.

The court heard that Elms was“unhappy”at the outcome of a meeting that morning and had an aggressive manner. He took hold of the table and threw it at the prison officer.

“Mr Elms was restrained and eventually taken to the ground,”explained depute fiscal Sean Maher.

Solicitor Paul Ralph said his client worked in the kitchen at the time and there was an argument over what exactly his job description should be.

Mr Ralph explained:“He stormed off and was advised that was the end of his employment.”

The incident took place not because he had been sacked but because it happened in front of other prisoners.

He had subsequently been transferred to Lowmoss Prison and ironically was back working in the kitchen.

Elms was jailed in May, 2018, after pleading guilty to assaulting a north-east man to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

He is currently serving an extended sentence and his earliest release date was to have been September, 2023.

But Sheriff Neil Bowie said: “This will have to be marked by an additional consecutive sentence.”