Gangster chased man through prison wing before slashing him with blade

A gangster placed a man’s life in danger after slashing him repeatedly in a jail attack, a court has heard.

Robert Warnock, 30, chased Jason Arthur through the Allanton Hall wing of HMP Shotts on November 29, 2021.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Warnock then struck him three times on the neck with a “razor blade” like weapon.

Judge Lord Young saw a two-minute-long CCTV clip of the attack in which prison guards are forced to restrain Warnock following the assault.

Lord Young also saw Arthur in the clip trying to defend himself with a dinner tray.

The court heard that later in the day, Arthur was taken to hospital in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

Medics found that one of the lacerations to his neck came close to his carotid artery – a major body part responsible for maintaining life and transporting oxygen-rich blood to the brain, neck and face.

Prosecutor Hugh Olson told the court: “Mr Arthur became acutely unwell in the hospital department and required two units of blood.

“He later discharged himself the same day against medical advice and returned to prison.”

The story emerged on Thursday afternoon after Warnock, of Greenock, Inverclyde, decided not to go on trial on an attempted murder charge.

Proceedings were continued to Friday after prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to a lesser charge of assaulting the man to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life.

Warnock is a high-risk violent offender who has been given several jail sentences for various crimes. On Friday, the court heard his earliest date for release is in October 2046.

His first conviction from the high court dates from 2020.

He received 11 years for trying to murder a woman with a meat cleaver as she waited for a taxi.

Warnock also seriously wounded her partner when he went to her aid during the street attack in Greenock, in Inverclyde, on June 28, 2019.

A judge told Warnock at the High Court in Edinburgh that he carried out “a brutal and cowardly attack on them”.

Judge Gordon Liddle told him: “You are a particularly dangerous man.

“It is something of a miracle that you did not hit an artery.”

The victim was placed in an induced coma in the hospital while her wounds were treated.

The judge pointed out that Warnock was assessed as posing a high risk of re-offending and had previously been jailed for serious assault and crimes involving knives and a baseball bat.

He said: “From that history, it can be read that you have a violent disposition and have repeatedly been associated with weapons.”

He said it was clear that Warnock’s offending was escalating.

The judge told him: “Because of the gravity of the violent crimes you have committed and your previous criminal record, a custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal.”

Defence advocate Matt Jackson KC told the court that Warnock had expressed remorse and a willingness to break the cycle of offending.

In November 2022, Warnock returned to the high court as a member of a six-strong gang who were in a murder plot using firebombs.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how the attacks were organised by Warnock, who, Judge Lord Mulholland said, acted like “a gangster” as he sought to turn the streets of Greenock into a “warzone”.

The court heard how Warnock had wanted revenge for the stabbing of his younger brother.

Andrew Sutherland and his half-brother Leonard Cole Jr were blamed for the attack on 18-year-old Reece Warnock in August 2019.

Properties and relatives linked to the pair were then targeted.

Warnock was jailed for 15 years and three months having earlier pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to murder.

The judge told Warnock he had been the “instigator” for what happened.

On Friday, the court didn’t hear any motive being given for why Warnock slashed Arthur.

Mr Olson told Lord Young that the Crown believed that Warnock’s criminal record and the current offence showed that he passed the legal tests needed for the court to impose an order for lifelong restriction.

This sentence is an indeterminate one, which means that Warnock could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

An OLR means that a person who is given one is only released once the parole board reckons they no longer pose a threat to public safety.

Lord Young deferred sentence to obtain a background report on Warnock. He said he would ask the lawyers to address him at a future hearing on whether there was a need to impose an order for lifelong restriction.