A man who is already serving a sentenced as a convicted sex offender launched a “sadistic” prison attack on a rapist inmate by throwing boiling water and sugar in his face.
Connor McInearney, 29, threw a Pot Noodle container full of the hot sticky liquid over rapist Thomas Hatton when the pair clashed in a cell at HMP Edinburgh in October last year.
The 34-year-old victim was rushed to the capital’s royal infirmary for treatment before being transferred to a specialist plastic surgery unit at St John’s hospital in Livingston.
McInearney pleaded guilty to assaulting Hatton by throwing hot liquid on his head and body to his severe injury when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
He also admitted to a second charge of possessing an offensive weapon, namely a container holding boiling water and sugar, both at HMP Edinburgh on October 11 last year.
Prosecutor Eilidh Grant told the court McInearney walked into Hatton’s cell “carrying a black Pot Noodle-type container” at around 2.30pm on October 11 last year.
Ms Grant said: “The accused walked over and threw the contents of the tub that contained boiling water and sugar over the face and neck of Mr Hatton.
“He then left the cell still carrying the Pot Noodle container.”
The court was told Hatton staggered from his cell and appeared to be in “obvious discomfort after what had happened”.
The capital prison was immediately locked down after warders were alerted to the attack by another inmate.
Ms Grant added: “Prison officers then attended the accused’s cell and seized the black Pot Noodle tub from the top of a cabinet in his cell.”
The court heard Hatton had suffered burns to the left side of his face and temple area as well as blisters to his ears and neck following the attack.
The fiscal said medics had described Hatton’s injuries to be “moderate” and the con should make full recovery.
Solicitor Scott Mackie, defending, said: “The background to this is the complainer had been goading him for a number of weeks and he reached breaking point.
“Mr Hatton had been making remarks over a young family member of his.”
Sheriff Julius Komorowski described the incident as “a sadistic attack” that was “obviously premeditated” and in his view there needs to be “a very substantial need for a deterrent.”
The sheriff sentenced McInearney, from Dundee, to a 40 month jail term that will run consecutive to his current sentence.
Serial offender McInearney has more than 17 convictions including attacking his girlfriend and threatening to sexually assault a police officer’s grandchild during an incident in 2022.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for seven years after he sexually assaulted a teenage girl and threatened to cut off a schoolboy’s ears on a bus journey in March 2023.
McInearney was high on Valium and Buckfast when molested the girl and he breached the order the following year when he failed to inform police he had moved to Burnley in Lancashire.
Rapist Hatton was jailed for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders register for life after he was convicted of repeatedly raping a child at several addresses in Fife between 2017 and 2021.
Judge Lady Drummond described the abuse as “predatory, exploitative, and devastating” when she sentenced him at the High Court in Glasgow in May last year.
Hatton will be also supervised for three years following his release from prison and was handed an order banning him from contacting his victim for life.
