A young Spice user who bit two security guards and struck two prison warders has been spared jail after a sheriff was told he had been learning French behind bars.
Adam Perratt, now 20, attacked prison officer David Orr at Polmont Young Offenders' Institution near Falkirk while he was being removed from his cell after being found under the influence an illicit substance, Stirling Sheriff Court was told.
He "lunged" at the officer as he tried to remove him to a safer cell, striking him on the left cheek and trying to bite him.
Mr Orr suffered a black eye in the attack, on October 1st, 2020.
Less than three weeks later, he spat at another warden, Lee Farrell, striking him on the left cheek with his spittle, and punched him on the right side of his face, causing grazing and swelling, during a cell search.
Then on February 9th last year (2021), he assaulted GeoAmey turnkeys Stephen Bryson and Michael McDermott in a mid-morning incident at Kilmarnock Police Station, Ayrshire.
The court heard the custody officers monitoring CCTV had spotted Perratt in his cell trying to tie a piece of clothing round his neck.
As they opened the cell door to intervene, Perratt "lunged" at Mr Bryson and began to struggle with him.
They both fell to the floor, where Perratt bit Mr Bryson on the left hand side of his face.
During a further struggle, he continually tried to bite Mr Bryson again, and succeeded in biting Mr McDermott on the hand.
Mr McDermott escaped with abrasions, but Mr Bryson was treated in hospital for the bite injury to his face and a swollen left eye, and had to be given an injection for blood-borne viruses and antibiotics.
Perratt, formerly of Kilwinning, Ayrshire, now of Montrose, pleaded guilty to four charges of assault to injury.
Solicitor Eddie Robertson, defending, said that Perratt had been taking the drug "Spice" on a regular basis, but had now been drug-free for nine months.
Urging a community-based disposal, he said Perratt had been making "remarkable progress" while in the Young Offenders' Institution in education.
He said: "He has been doing particularly well in French."
He said Perratt had decided to keep away from Ayrshire, and from former peer-groups there.
"He has matured somewhat, and that can only be proved if it's put to the test."
Sheriff Kirsty Hood QC sentenced Perratt to 180 hours unpaid work and placed him on social work supervision and an 8.00pm to 7.00 am curfew for nine months.
She said it was "of concern" that a criminal justice social work report on Perratt had suggested a lack of remorse or empathy towards his victims, and he had a "very unimpressive" list of previous convictions.
But she told him: "I have taken into account the guidelines for sentencing young persons "I have taken into account, perhaps most importantly, the steps that you have recently taken in the young offenders' institution in learning new skills and removing yourself from your previous location and peer groups, and taking courses.
"Previous periods of detention have benefited society in terms of protection, but have not been of benefit to you in terms of moving forward, and after some consideration it does seem to me that this is a chance to offer you a chance to make the fresh start that you indicated you want to make.
"The court is having faith in what you are expressing -- that you have a desire to put yourself on a better path."
