City prisoner slashed gay inmate's face

A PRISONER slashed a gay inmate's face after being told by a guard "if he wanted to have you he would", a court heard.

Thomas Conington, 22, had been invited into Paul Fegan's cell in Saughton Prison to borrow a DVD player when the attack took place.

Conington, who knew Mr Fegan was gay, saw his fellow prisoner move towards him with "a look in his eye" and pulled out a razor blade and slashed Mr Fegan on the face.

Yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court he pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Fegan to his injury and permanent disfigurement during the attack on June 6 this year.

The court heard that the two men got on well together, often playing pool and chatting.

But they had had problems, with Mr Fegan circulating rumours that Conington was gay and that the two of them had met before in a gay bar.

Conington, who is straight, was worried that the rumours would leave him open to unwanted attention and spoke to a prison officer about it.

The court heard that in response, the guard said: "You better watch out, because if he wanted to have you he would."

His defence agent Matthew Auchincloss said this had been in the back of his mind when he launched on Mr Fegan.

Sheriff Derrick MacIntyre deferred sentence until Thursday.