Police have launched a probe after a car was firebombed outside HMP Perth.
Emergency crews were called to the prison after the motor was torched in the car park at 12.45am on Thursday morning. The vehicle is understood to belong to a prison employee who was on a nightshift.
A witness told the Record two men threw bottles of accelerant at the car before it burst into flames.
Will Robertson, 45, who lives near the prison said: "When I looked out the window I saw bottles being smashed and the car burst into flames. Then I spotted two men running away.
"I ran out of the house with my dog, Bella, and she started chasing the two guys. I was going to intervene but I had to grab Bella because I thought the car was going to explode.
"It was only about 10ft from the entrance of the prison. The fire service turned up just as I thought it was going to spread to the building. I heard the car belonged to a prison staff member and they had only just bought it."
Footage obtained by the Record shows the parked motor already engulfed in flames. Fire crews can be seen tackling the inferno while smoke billows out into the staff car park.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service crews extinguished the blaze and made the area safe. Cops confirmed no-one was injured in the incident, which the force are treating as wilful.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police received a report of a car on fire in the car park at HMP Perth around 12.45am on Thursday, July 6.
“The fire was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and no-one was injured. The fire is being treated as wilful and enquiries are ongoing.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: "We can confirm that an incident took place within the car park of HMP Perth at around 12:45am, on Thursday, July 6.
"Scottish Fire and Rescue were in attendance and no injuries were sustained. All incidents involving alleged criminality are reported to Police Scotland."
The attack comes after six cars were torched outside HMP Addiewell on January 7 this year. The motors, believed to belong to prison staff members, had the windows smashed before they were set alight.
In January 2020, two cars were set on fire in the staff car park at Glasgow's Barlinnie prison. Inmates could be heard screaming and cheering after a red Volvo and white Audi were set on fire in footage.
And in April 2021 five cars went up in flames in the staff car park at HMP Kilmarnock with locals claiming that the cars had been deliberately set alight.
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