Murderer attacked fellow Kilmarnock prisoner

Nov 27 2009

A MURDERER faces almost four additional years behind bars following a brutal attack on a fellow inmate at Kilmarnock Prison.

Liam McLeod, 26, is already serving a minimum of 10 years imprisonment for the 2001 killing of a 25-year-old woman in Dundee.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week he pleaded guilty to a vicious assault on a prisoner whom he also robbed of his medication.

The court heard that McLeod’s victim was in his cell at Bowhouse on New Year’s Day when he heard another prisoner come in and demand “gie us the pills”.

He then had boiling water thrown over him and was repeatedly struck on the head with a cup.

The man told his attacker that his pills were under the mattress.

“He was left lying on the floor covered in blood,” said Kim Philp, prosecuting.

Although the assault victim claimed not to have seen who attacked him, McLeod was spotted coming out of the cell.

Prison officers went to the accused’s cell where McLeod had barricaded himself in the toilet.

When he did come out his clothing was seen to be bloodstained and a quantity of medication was found on the toilet floor.

McLeod later made full admissions.

He told officers: “I told the old bastard what I was going to do. I had a kettle in one hand and a mug in the other.”

He said that, when the man had refused to hand over his medication, he had thrown boiling water over him and struck him on the head with the mug until it broke.

McLeod’s victim suffered scalding to his face and shoulder, as well as a number of cuts which required stitches.

An agent for McLeod said that, after the attack, his client had spent five months in solitary confinement – locked in for 23 hours a day and denied any association with other prisoners.

The offence, said the solicitor, would have particularly serious consequences for McLeod who would be eligible to be considered for parole in December 2011.

He told Sheriff Iona McDonald: “He is aware that the commission of this offence delivers a significant blow to any hope he had of being released within the next four or five years.

“This will affect any parole hearing or assessment as to the risk he presents.”

At the time of the offence McLeod had been suffering from severe depression.

Although he had been prescribed Prozac, the medication was “allocated to him sporadically”.

McLeod, said his lawyer, had behaved well in prison before and since the offence.

Sheriff McDonald said that she had at first considered that the appropriate sentence might be beyond her powers.

She sentenced McLeod to 45 months imprisonment, to be served consecutively to his present life sentence.