The killer of Trainspotting 2 star Bradley Welsh questioned a sheriff over the “public interest” in prosecuting him and other inmates for “minor” contraband offences.
Sean Orman – who was handed a life sentence for gunning down the 28-year-old actor in Edinburgh – appeared via video link at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted having an illegal SIM card at the city’s jail.
The court heard the device was discovered by guards during a routine search on June 14.
Orman appeared at the same court, before the same sheriff, for a near identical offence last month.
Asked by Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon if he had anything to say in mitigation, the 32-year-old, who represented himself replied: “No.”
But he went on to add: “Can I ask a question?
“Because this kind of thing keeps happening to me and other people, is there a public interest in wasting so much time and money on minor matters like this?”
Sheriff O’Hanlon said: “I can’t answer that. That’s above my paygrade.”
Orman, who last time in court revealed he is appealing his murder conviction, said his earliest release date is 2051.
Sheriff O’Hanlon sentenced him to six months, to run alongside his current sentence.
Phone crime
There has been a series of recent prosecutions for illegal SIM discoveries in Perth prison.
During the Covid-19, inmates were given prison-issue mobile phones with strict monitoring of their use.
However, prisoners increasingly used them with contraband SIM cards.
The Scottish Prison Service recently announced it would be introducing landline-style phones to cells instead.
More cases this week
Earlier this week, Fife murderer John Blake was given an extra nine months behind bars for repeatedly using illegal SIM cards with his prison-issued phone.
It was his eighth such offence.
Also this week, Dundee woman Amanda Fleming, who tried to smuggle SIM cards into the prison using a bag of crisps, was given a chance to stay out of jail.
She was four-months pregnant when, on a visit, guards became suspicious of her interactions with an inmate.
They saw Fleming offer the prisoner a crisp from a packet she bought from the vending machine and he left his hand in the bag for an unusually long time.
They recovered 10 unauthorised SIM cards.
Fleming, 35, flew into a rage and threatened to smash up a room when she was questioned about the cash.
At Perth Sheriff Court, she admitted a charge of knowingly giving a personal communication device to a prisoner on November 17 2021.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC told Fleming she her background report was positive.
“You have been recommended as suitable for a drug treatment and testing order,” the sheriff said.
“I am satisfied that would be appropriate, as you have been engaging well with services.”
Fleming was placed on the treatment order for two years and warned she could face jail if she doesn’t comply.
Murderers
Orman was found guilty of murdering Mr Welsh on his door step in the capital’s west end area in 2019.
The judge, Lord Beckett, called the killing a “pre-meditated and meticulously planned assassination, the ultimate reasons for which remain unknown to the court.”
Blake stabbed to death Sean Stark outside his home in Lochgelly after he stepped in to stop a fight involving a neighbour.
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