AN INMATE who squirted a bottle of urine over a prison officer at Portland YOI has been jailed for 12 months.

The victim says she has been unable to return to full duties of her dream job after being left so distressed by the incident.

Joshua Guest-King, aged 27 and of Moreton Street, Gloucester, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court after pleading guilty to unlawfully and maliciously administering a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.

The court heard the victim was on duty in the corridor of the prison on October 1 2019 when she ‘became aware of a stream of fluid striking her in the head’.

Prosecutor, Tom Wright, said that Guest-King was ‘making a conservative effort to drench’ the victim.

He added: “She had known the defendant for a couple of years and had had no difficulties with him until a relatively minor confrontation a month before this incident. Since then, he had shown hostility towards her.”

He said that after the incident, Guest-King’s cell was searched and a piece of paper was found with the victim’s name written on it.

A statement from the victim read in court said: “This incident has had a profound negative impact on my psychological wellbeing and mental health.

“I’m angry that this incident has had such a huge impact on me. The thought of returning to work terrifies me.

“Being a prison officer is not just a job to me. Being a prison officer is what I have always wanted to do.

“I am not able to return to the full duties of a prison officer because of the anxiety which stems directly from this incident.”

Mark Florida-James, defending, said: “In his own mind he had developed a grudge. He accepts that what he did was wrong and gave a guilty plea straight away.

“Prison staff and public servants deserve protection and they want to see people committing these offences punished for it.”

Guest-King was jailed for 12 months and an indefinite restraining order, banning him from making any contact with the victim, was granted.