A violent thug smashed up his cell during a dirty protest at Perth Prison, leaving taxpayers with a £3,000 clean-up bill.
Joseph Docherty, who was jailed for stabbing his pregnant partner with a machete, was out of his mind on legal highs when he covered himself in excrement and destroyed his toilet.
The 40-year-old barricaded himself inside the room while making threats against prison staff.
When guards managed to breach his cell door, he armed himself with a piece of broken shelf.
Docherty, jailed for six years in 2018, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court via videolink from HMP Glenochil.
He was told to serve another six months behind bars after pleading guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, on December 4, last year.
Barricaded
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson told the court: “The accused was the sole occupant of his cell in C-Hall at the time.
“At around 9am, the accused began acting in a disruptive manner and was making threats to harm staff and other prisoners.
“He was banging on his cell door and was causing damage to the interior of his cell.”
She said: “Staff attempted to engage with the accused but he did not respond.
“Next, he presented himself at the inspection window with faeces on him.
“He continued to make threats to harm staff.”
Guards decided to take him to the jail’s Segregation and Reintegration Unit.
“Attempts were made to unlock the cell door, but it became apparent there was a blockage behind it.
Ms Hodgson said: “Staff carried out two strikes with the appropriate equipment to get the door open.
“They entered the cell where they saw the accused brandishing a piece of shelving unit in his hands.
“The accused refused to put it down.
“He was taken to the floor by staff in a controlled manner and then placed in segregation.”
The fiscal depute said the damage in the cell was assessed. “The toilet was completed smashed and the shelving unit was also broken,” she said.
“The estimated cost of damage is £2,687.”
‘It’s been a nightmare’
Docherty, who represented himself in court via videolink, said: “I had psychosis when I done all that.
“I was under the influence of legal highs. I can’t even remember doing it.
“But I’m sorry that I did it.”
Docherty said he was “struggling” behind bars. “It’s been a nightmare for me,” he told the court.
He said his release date was July next year.
Sheriff William Wood told him: “Clearly, if you try to take illicit drugs in prison, knowing they are going to have an effect on you, then that is your fault.
“Obviously in these circumstances, only a further custodial sentence is appropriate.”
The sheriff told him the extra six months imprisonment would have to be served at the end of his current sentence.
Docherty was locked up for an “appalling” assault on his pregnant girlfriend at her home in Lanarkshire on New Year’s Day 2018.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that he plunged a machete into the woman’s left leg, causing blood to spurt out – in the victim’s words – “like a rainbow”.
Lord Mulholland told Docherty: “This was a cowardly and nasty attack on a defenceless, pregnant woman. This is serious domestic violence.”
