A prisoner who wanted to be a mentor for other inmates spat in an officer's face and the goaded him. Tyrone Birkett later told police he had chosen to spit instead of throwing a punch because it would be more degrading for his victim.
The defendant has 166 offences on his record including four attacks on emergency workers, and a judge said he could not think of anyone less suitable to be a mentor for other prisoners.
Harry Dickens, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that in November last year Birkett was a serving prisoner in HMP Parc in Bridgend. He said at lunchtime on the 11th the defendant was let out of his cell to go to the food servery, and as made his way to the canteen he began calling the officer who was accompanying him a "f******* idiot". The prosecutor said Birkett was unhappy at the officer as he had previously issued him with a written warning for going to the prison he gym when it was not his scheduled turn.
