Three-hour knifepoint ordeal for prison officer

INMATE HELD HIM HOSTAGE AS HE 'FEARED FOR HIS LIFE'

- By CARL EVE

A MAN who "genuinely believed" he was going to be murdered in prison and it be made to look like a suicide attempt took a prison officer hostage at knifepoint for three hours, a court heard.

Scott Patterson, aged 37 and originally from Plymouth, appeared at Plymouth Crown Court on Friday after he pleaded guilty to three offences all relating to an incident on July 4, 2023, at HMP Dartmoor: false imprisonment, assaulting an emergency worker - a prison officer - and being in possession of a weapon - a sharpened plastic knife - in prison.

Prosecutor Holly Rust said the prison officer had been working at HMP Dartmoor for more than 20 years and at the time of the offence was working in the segregation unit. Patterson had been placed in the unit after he had barricaded himself in his previous cell. On the morning of the incident the prison officer escorted Patterson towards the exercise yard but as they approached the gate Patterson threw his arm around the neck of the officer and held the sharpened knife to his throat.

Patterson told the officer "If you struggle you will get hurt. Please don't struggle." He made the officer get onto the floor all the while holding the knife to his neck. As others discovered the incident, Patterson told them "keep back or the officer will get hurt".