Hawick 39-year-old jailed for further five months for spitting in prison officer’s face

Gary Scott launched that assault as guard Ewan Guilfoyle leaned forward to speak to him at his cell door in Shotts Prison in North Lanarkshire.

His victim had to undergo medical tests to rule out Covid-19 and other infections afterwards, Hamilton Sheriff Court heard today, September 3.

Scott, 39, appearing from custody via video-link, admitted spitting at Mr Guilfoyle on March 10.

Morag McLintock, prosecuting, told the South Lanarkshire court that prison officers went to Scott’s cell at 11.40am, adding: “They spoke to the accused through the gap in his cell door, but Scott said ‘I can’t f***ing hear you.’

“Mr Guilfoyle moved closer to the door and, as he was trying to speak, the accused spat directly at him, striking his eye with the saliva.”

The officer was taken to hospital and required follow-up appointments with his GP because of the “potential for contamination”, but it’s understood that he suffered no adverse effects.

Defence solicitor Lauren Aitchison said Scott, previously of Bourtree Terrace in Hawick, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and his mental health had worsened on the day of that assault.

She explained: “He was put in an observation cell and was waiting to meet with the prison mental health team when this happened.

“He accepts full responsibility for his actions and is extremely embarrassed.

“He has since spoken to the officer and apologised.”

Scott is not due for release until June 2024 and sheriff Ross Macfarlane jailed him for a further five months, to begin once his current sentence ends.

The sheriff told him: “People who work in prison have to be confident they can do so without being assaulted, especially in times like this.”

Scott and co-accused Terence McMillan, then 40, also of Bourtree Terrace, were jailed for 12 years each in 2010 at the High Court in Edinburgh for the attempted murder of a 24-year-old man on the old railway line in Hawick in March 2009.