A court heard yesterday that officers “feared for their lives” while carrying out an intervention on inmates rioting at the north-east’s super-jail.
Gordon Roy was in charge of the operational support team formed to control the siege at HMP Grampian in May 2014.
Yesterday, Mr Roy told jurors sitting at Aberdeen Sheriff Court that he and other officers had deployed PAVA spray towards inmates while staff tried to take back control of the prison.
He was giving evidence in the case of six former prisoners accused of banding together to form an “evil mob”.
Robert Gill, 26, from Newmachar, Stephen Sim, 31, from Stonehaven, Michael Stewart 31, from Forfar, Dominic Jordan, 30, from Merseyside, Sandy Mundie, 30, from Aberdeen and 33-year-old George Thomson, also from Aberdeen, all accept being in custody at the time, but deny taking any part in the disturbance.
Mr Roy said he entered the C section of the Ellon hall behind a formation of officers in riot gear.
He added that, after they managed to push past a barricade which prisoners had erected, they were faced with a number of inmates.
He stated some offenders approached the officers, who were behind 5ft6 shields, before starting to kick them.
Mr Roy said it was at this time he shouted “spray” and aimed at those inmates who were attacking.
When asked why he thought it was necessary to deploy the firearm, he responded: “Because there was a fear for life.”
Solicitor for Mundie, Mike Monro, put it to Mr Roy that officers who carried out the PAVA attacks were doing so “indiscriminately”.
He also suggested that during the intervention, which was the first time PAVA had been used in a Scottish jail, the rules had been disregarded and called the matter a “shambles”.
Mr Roy said he did not agree.
The case, before Sheriff Andrew Miller, continues.