A Dundee thug jailed for trying to murder his ex-partner has had his prison sentence extended for a frenzied assault on a fellow inmate.
Dennis Cox, who has more than 40 convictions, attacked Charles Anderson in a stairwell at HMP Perth in April last year.
It was just weeks after he started an eight year stretch for subjecting a former girlfriend to a horrific campaign of violence.
A jury at Perth Sheriff Court was shown CCTV footage of Cox, 35, squaring up to Mr Anderson at the bottom of stairs in the prison’s B-hall.
The minute-long clip shows Cox lashing out with fists and feet, while Mr Anderson cowers in a corner.
Another inmate is seen darting upstairs for help.
Jurors took around 40 minutes to find Cox guilty of injuring Mr Anderson by repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head.
Cox, who has been branded a danger to women, had another year added to his sentence.
Caught on camera
The jury of nine women and six men heard from witness Stuart Wallace, the outgoing security manager at HMP Perth.
He said he was made aware of an assault in B-hall, near the entrance to the exercise yard, on the morning of April 12.
Mr Wallace, 53, said it happened while prisoners were filing out for exercise.
Reviewing the CCTV, he said: “It looked like Mr Anderson tried to defend himself.
“He made no effort to try and retaliate from the blows that he was receiving.”
He said Cox was the aggressor.
Under cross-examination by solicitor Jim Laverty, Mr Wallace said he was aware that, occasionally, some inmates could be paid to inflict harm on another prisoner.
He said there was nothing to suggest any difficulties between Cox and Mr Anderson.
Prison officer Derek Smith, 42, spoke to Mr Anderson after the attack and the prisoner refused to account for an injury to his eye.
Reign of terror
Just four weeks before the attack, Cox was sentenced to eight years at the High Court in Glasgow.
The court heard how he bit, punched and compressed the neck of his ex-partner, before throwing her across a room, in a terrifying attack at a house in Balunie Avenue, Dundee, on November 20 2018.
He also attacked her on April 12 2019 by grabbing her round the neck in a sleeper hold, to her permanent impairment and permanent disfigurement.
Cox was also found guilty of assaulting George Lamb by striking him with a hammer and attempting to strike him with knives at a flat on Ballidean Road, Dundee, on March 31 last year.
Cox, whose previous convictions include domestic abuse and stalking, was branded a danger to women and at high risk of reoffending.
Judge Lord Arthurson told him “You have shown a lack of remorse and are assessed as being at a high risk of causing harm to females you are in a relationship with.
“You present a high risk of serious harm to the public.”
