A paranoid prisoner will serve extra time behind bars after a drug-fuelled attack on a guard at HMP Perth.
Jamie Alexander flew into a rage while officers were escorting him from his cell to a phone booth.
He turned on one warden, spat at him and punched him on the nose.
The assault happened during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak on March 19, 2020.
Alexander, who has a history of violence and convictions for assaulting prison staff, admitted the assault when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court via video link on Thursday, his 34th birthday.
He had another nine months added to his sentence.
‘Appalling’ criminal record
Sheriff Gillian Wade said: “This is not a coronavirus-related case, but it must have been very unpleasant for the prison officer to be spat on during this time in March 2020.”
She told Alexander: “You have an appalling record and many of these offences have been committed while you were in custody.
“I am frankly quite surprised that this matter has been brought before the court on a summary complaint.”
Record of violence
Alexander was jailed for five years in 2016 for a brutal attack on a woman in Falkirk.
Two years into his jail term, he had his sentence extended after assaulted two officers at HMP Shotts by pouring containers of excrement and urine on them.
Solicitor David Holmes told the court: “At the time of the assault in HMP Perth, he was suffering from paranoia – not just against staff, but almost everyone including members of the family.
“That was because of a combination of symptoms but a significant part of it was drug-induced psychosis.”
Mr Holmes said: “After this incident he was placed in isolation from March until the summer time.
“After that, he was moved into Carstairs state hospital where he stayed for a year, until just a few weeks ago.”
Alexander, who is now serving in HMP Low Moss, told the court he was trying to improve his prospects through education.
Victim was ‘prisoner’ in her flat
In 2016, Edinburgh High Court heard how Alexander held a woman prisoner at her own flat in Falkirk after she said he couldn’t spent the night with her.
He punched, kicked and headbutted the woman, threatened her with a knife and held a hot iron close to her face.
She suffered fractures around her eye and jaw.
At the time, Alexander already had a reputation for violence having twice served sentences for serious assaults.
