Burglar threw pot of urine and excrement into faces of prison officers

A prisoner angry that bosses at HMP Stocken were not bothered about his mental health problems threw a mix of urine and faeces at two prison guards, covering their bodies and faces in the mix. The incident happened at HMP Stocken where Alan Aldous was a serving prisoner.

The 33-year-old, who has since been moved to HMP Wealstun in West Yorkshire, appeared at Leicester Crown Court by videolink on Monday, April 8. The burglar, who has 50 previous crimes on his record, pleaded guilty to two counts of maliciously administering poison or noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve, or annoy.

David Webster, prosecuting, told the court the incident happened in May last year when Aldous ,who was behind bars for a burglary, had spent the past two weeks in a segregate unit at the prison near Oakham. Aldous was sitting on a chair when the two prison officers opened the door and without saying anything he flung the mixture at the two men.

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Mr Webster said: "Both were covered to their arms and torso and had running down their faces a thick, lumpy mixture, described as having the consistency of custard. The smell was nauseating.

"Mr Aldous was taking an aggressive stance and other officers attended. The defendant was saying 'Come on' and 'Let's go'."

However, after he was restrained, Aldous apologised to the two guards who needed to take blood tests after the incident. Mr Webster said: "He told them, 'I should not have thrown that **** at you'."

In their victim impact statements, one of the guards said he felt "demoralised and degraded" by what happened. The other said he was "in complete shock" and that he felt "really dirty" and the smell remained with him.

Anthony Sugare, representing Aldous, told the court: "He wasn't trying to target the officers - he was trying to send a message that his mental health problems were not being looked at at all by the prison authorities. But nothing justifies his behaviour."

He said had his client not thrown the mixture at the prison officers, he would have been up for release from September of this year.

Judge William Harbage KC told Aldous he was going to give him a consecutive sentence, meaning that he will only begin serving it after his current sentence for burglary is complete in September. He told Aldous: "You threw a mixture of excrement and urine at two prison officers.

"This is what is colloquially known these days as 'potting'. I accept you apologised to them afterwards but nothing justifies what you did - this was disgusting behaviour.

"This is generally committed to distress prison officers, who have a difficult job to do as it is. The psychological effect on them can be significant."

Aldous was given a 20-month jail term, of which he will serve at least half, meaning he will remain behind bars until at least July 2025.