Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Riot breaks out at Shotts prison over TV sports choice

Gary Anderson of Great Britain (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Gary Anderson of Great Britain (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

A riot broke out at one of Scotland’s toughest jails when inmates began fighting over whether to watch live darts or football.

Trouble broke out at Shotts prison in Lanarkshire after some convicts said they wanted to watch the St Mirren-Dundee United Scottish Championship match rather than the World Darts Championships.

The darts competition – shown live on Sky Sports – included a needle match between Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and Scots darts hero Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals.

Double champion Anderson – who is known as the Flying Scotsman and is from Musselburgh in East Lothian – had been fighting a back injury on his way to the latter stages of the tournament held at the Alexandria Palace in London before being beaten by darts legend Taylor.

But it was prisoners and staff at the tough prison who required medical attention after the match.

It is understood six guards were caught up in the riot and attacked with makeshift weapons including pool cues.

Shotts Prison

The prisoners now face tough internal sanctions that could see them put into segregation and being moved jails after their violent outburst is probed by bosses.

Insiders at the jail said the violence was chilling in how quickly it escalated.

One source said: “There had been some trouble over the course of the day based on arguments over the darts, of all things.

“Some wanted to watch the football and others the darts.

“But the speed of how things escalated was very frightening.

“The staff and other prisoners were caught up in some intense violence before authorities could calm things down.”

The source added: “It shows you what a dangerous place it can be – not just for the prisoners but also for the guards who are just doing their jobs.”

Maximum-security jail Shotts is unique in Scotland because it is meant to be exclusively for long-term prisoners serving four or more years.

At a recent inspection, of the 531 prisoners at Shotts, 312 were in for more than 10 years.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “We are able to confirm an incident happened on December 29.”

She added no prison guards were hospitalised with any serious injuries.

It is understood authorities could use CCTV of the incident as part of an investigation.