AN INMATE at HMP Glenochil set his cell on fire after getting wasted on illegal prison "hooch".

Thomas McKenna, 52, set light to a pile of prison clothing under his cell sink a fortnight after being returned to the Clacks jail, having breached the terms of early release.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard last Wednesday that a guard on duty had heard a fire alarm sounding.

Prosecutor Michael Maguire said: "The prison officer looked through the observation hatch and saw the cell was full of smoke."

He rushed into McKenna's cell with an extinguisher to quench the blaze, and the prisoner was moved to a side room.

The fire was contained, but had caused £936 of damage, the court was told.

McKenna, from Paisley, pleaded guilty to culpable and reckless conduct.

The incident occurred about 8pm on October 6 last year

Brian Black, defending, said: "Mr McKenna's position is that he had been drinking a home-made, or rather prison-made, type of hooch which put him into a drunken state.

"He was simply drinking this cocktail.

"It was his choice to drink it.

"He accepts it's his responsibility."

Mr Black said McKenna had already been dealt with by the prison governor, and received 14 days' segregation and loss of privileges.

The court was told McKenna was likely to remain in Glenochil for some time to come, and any jail sentence imposed by the court was unlikely to affect his date of release.

Sheriff John Mundy imposed a further 12-month prison sentence to run concurrently.

He told McKenna: "It won't affect much of the price of bread but it will go on your record and it will reflect the seriousness of the matter."

McKenna was jailed for 12 years in 2008 for breaking into a young dad's home in Paisley and stabbed him a dozen times in a frenzied attack.

In 2014, he was also jailed for a year for throwing boiling water in the faces of three prison officers at Kilmarnock Prison in 2013, while still serving that 12-year term.