Prisoner cleared over Riggi attack claims

The 22-year-old was said to have badly injured Riggi, 47, who is in jail for killing her three young children, during the alleged attack in Scotland’s only all female prison, Cornton Vale, near Stirling.

However, the case has now been dropped after the Crown Office decided there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute the unnamed prisoner.

A spokeswoman said today: “The Procurator Fiscal at Stirling received a report concerning a 22-year-old female in connection with an alleged incident on 22 October last year.

“After full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, the Procurator Fiscal decided that there was insufficient evidence to raise criminal proceedings. The case is now closed.”

The incident is believed to have been Riggi’s first day in the main part of the jail, after being kept in a separate wing of the jail for her own protection.

The Crown Office are still looking into the case of another 39-year-old prisoner, who was charged following allegations Riggi was slashed in the face with a broken razor.

Riggi had been serving time in the notorious prison since killing twin sons Austin and Luke, eight, and daughter Cecilia, five, in her flat in Edinburgh in August last year. She has since been moved to a psychiatric ward at the Edinburgh Royal Hospital

The Californian-born mother stabbed her three children to death over fears she would lose the kids to her husband Pasquale, 47, in a custody battle.

The youngsters’ bloodstained bodies were discovered lying side by side at the Slateford Road townhouse following a gas explosion at the building, each with eight stab wounds and multiple abrasions and bruises.

Riggi was found badly injured after plunging from a second-floor balcony in an apparent suicide bid. She also had stab wounds which were believed to have been self-inflicted.

She was initially charged with murder but later jailed for 16 years after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Lord Bracadale described the killings as “truly disturbing” and “grotesque”.

After the case, Pasquale, who works as a Shell engineer, said: “The horrific manner in which my children died will leave an indelible mark on the rest of my life.

“As a father, my natural instincts were geared towards safeguarding my children from the dangers of this world.

“It pains me to the core that I was unable to protect them from the selfish, brutal and murderous act that ended their lives so unfairly.

“There is no justification for this heinous crime, repeated three times, nor is there any sentence that can provide justice for the overwhelming loss of three lives and the subsequent painful grief and devastation caused to surviving family and friends.”