A convicted killer has been ordered to serve further jail time after threatening to stab a prison officer with a makeshift blade.
Murderer John Styles, 23, left the HMP Perth guard “extremely shaken” after threatening to stab him with a toothbrush with a sharply-pointed end.
Styles is currently serving 15 years for stabbing artist Jeroen van Neijhof, 38, to death at a flat in Brown Constable Street in May 2018.
The High Court in Edinburgh previously heard Styles boasted to an ex-girlfriend that he had “danced all over” his victim’s head after repeatedly knifing the Dutchman 19 times during a drug-fuelled frenzy.
Styles has now been jailed for a further 18 months after pleading guilty to threatening James Napier in September last year.
It was revealed at Dundee Sheriff Court that Styles was frustrated that his mental health issues were not being taken seriously by the prison.
Prosecutor Eilidh Robertson said Mr Napier was in the laundry room supervising Styles and six other prisoners.
However, things took a sinister turn when he was alone with Styles.
Ms Robertson said: “The accused walked towards him with homemade weapon. The officer asked how he got it and the accused said he had bought it.
“He told the accused to put it in the bin but he said ‘no, I am going to stab you.’
“Mr Napier sent a radio for assistance. The accused was repeatedly asked to drop it and eventually did so after several minutes of negotiation.”
In a separate incident in February, officers found a sock containing a padlock during a routine search of the brute’s cell.
Styles pleaded guilty to possessing the item as well as behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by brandishing the weapon and threatening to stab Mr Napier on September 4.
On February 14, Styles admitted being in possession of a sock containing a padlock.
Defence solicitor David Duncan said it was Styles’ position that he sparked the incident in an attempt for the prison to take his mental health issues more seriously.
Mr Duncan said: “He has experienced poor mental health over the first part of his sentence.
“He has felt he has not received any support in the system. What he was trying to do was make a crisis point to see if the authorities would listen to him.”
Mr Duncan added that Styles had been punished internally by prison bosses which has seen him isolated from other prisoners.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael ordered Styles to serve 18 months in prison after the initial 15 years of his life sentence is completed.
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