A child rapist will spend more time behind bars after he was caught on CCTV assaulting a fellow prisoner at Perth Prison.
William Russell, serving a 10-year sentence for raping a nine-year-old girl and sexually abusing her and her sister in Stirlingshire, attacked Brian Clark in a lunch queue.
Russell, 41, admitted the offence when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court.
He appeared visibly shocked to be handed a consecutive sentence that will impact on his 2028 release date, loudly complaining from the dock: “F***ing hell.”
Dinner hall bust-up
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson, prosecuting, said lunch was served to prisoners at about 12.30pm on February 12 this year.
Russell and Clark were standing in a queue, waiting to be served.
“A disagreement happened between the accused and the complainer.
“Mr Russell was seen pushing Mr Clark into a wall, causing him to fall to the floor.”
She said Russell co-operated with prison officers.
Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, said his client is not due for release until September 2028 and parole had recently been refused.
“There is footage of Mr Russell confronting the other prisoner,” he said.
“It shows Mr Russell turning around and a disagreement clearly taking place.
“He turns his back on Mr Clark but then is hit on the back by the plate that the other prisoner is holding.
“Mr Russell then turns around and pushes him.”
Jail doesn’t stop him offending
Russell spent three days in solitary confinement.
“But he remained in the same prison, in the same hall with the complainer for six months after this,” said Mr Crawford.
The lawyer urged the court to consider a concurrent sentence that would not affect his client’s release date.
Sheriff Alison McKay told Russell: “Mr Crawford seeks to persuade me that this was a minor matter.
“But anything that happens within a prison that affects the good order within the prison, can be seen as more serious than what happens on the high street.
“You have a number of previous convictions for assault and moreover, it doesn’t appear that being in custody is stopping you from offending.”
Jailing him for three months, the sheriff said: “That will be consecutive to your current sentence.”
Sisters’ nightmares
One of Russell’s young victims told the High Court in Livingston she and her sister had not told anyone about what Russell had done to them.
But when they spoke about nightmares they were having, she realised they both had suffered similar experiences.
The rape took place between April 2003 and April 2005 when Russell was acting as the girl’s babysitter in the family’s Stirlingshire home.
He then used lewd, indecent and libidinous practices towards her and her younger sister.
It was only in 2017 when the sisters confided in each other about the abuse that they agreed to report the case to police.
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