Inverness prisoner handed five-month jail sentence for drug-fuelled damage to two cells

A PRISONER at Porterfield in Inverness has been handed a five-month jail sentence after he trashed two cells while high on drugs that he obtained while incarcerated on the site.

Jason Cochrane (29) smashed sinks, taps, windows and damaged walls.

When he was moved to another cell he ripped a shelf from a wall and continued his conduct.

Cochrane of Windsor Place, Conon Bridge committed the offence while he was a prisoner in the jail on August 22 last year.

Depute fiscal Ross Carvel told Inverness Sheriff Court that when a prison warden tried to get Cochrane to stop he continued to strike the windows and a spyhole on the cell door causing it to crack.

“He wanted removed from the cell and he lay unresponsive on his bed in the cell.”

The fiscal said prison staff had to put on safety uniforms before they entered the cell.

“He said he would smash any other cells and true to his word did exactly that.

“He had to be monitored to be sure he was not harming himself.”

The fiscal said the total cost of the damage to the two cells was £3062.

Cochrane admitted wilfully damaging the cells by pulling a shelf from a wall and using it to strike windows and spy holes in the doors, taking taps off the sinks and using the taps to scrape against the walls.

Graham Mann, solicitor, said it was an unfortunate incident and Cochrane did not have any recollection of these events. He said Cochrane had been given a substantial number of pills within the prison and he had taken these before committing the offence.

“There was a time when prison officers were dealing with him he was completely unresponsive”.

Mr Mann said Cochrane was placed on a drug treatment testing order by the court after this offence on other matters.

Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood told Cochrane, who appeared from custody on Thursday, that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He jailed him for five months.