A GREENOCK thug serving time in jail for trying to murder a man with a machete has confessed to a savage attack on a fellow inmate.
An entire prison wing had to be put into lockdown after Leonard Cole slashed the prisoner from his temple to his neck in a bloody assault.
A court heard the 26-year-old carried out the attack on a fellow inmate in retaliation after having boiled water poured over him – and in a bid to avoid being ‘victimised again’.
He pleaded guilty at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court this week to a single charge of assaulting the prisoner, who cannot be named at this stage for legal reasons.
Cole was sentenced to six years and nine months in 2022 after being found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Paisley of attempting to murder Shaun Charles in Greenock in June 2018.
At Cole’s trial in 2022, the jury heard he had left Charles fighting for his life after the blood-soaked assault in the town.
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The victim had travelled in a taxi with three other men whilst armed with a knife to confront Cole that day - after exchanging a string of threatening text messages with him.
He said it was 'meant to be a fight' but Cole went on to slice his neck open with the blade and left him for dead.
At the time, he claimed to be acting in self-defence and said the life-threatening machete blow he inflicted upon Charles was 'accidental'.
In addition to the sentence of six years and nine months, Cole was also told he would be supervised for four years after being released from prison.
Cole’s attack on a fellow prisoner was carried out on E Wing at HMP Kilmarnock, where he is serving his sentence.
Fiscal depute Craig Wainwright told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court that Cole and another man had gone to the cell of a fellow inmate at around 1pm on March 13, 2024, and that all three had become embroiled in an argument.
Mr Wainwright said the complainer then retrieved a kettle containing boiling water from inside his cell and threw the contents over Cole and the other man.
Cole left and went back to his own cell, but later returned to the scene a 'very short time later'.
"He [Cole] then returned and re-engaged in an argument," Mr Wainwright added.
"He had a pointed item in his right hand and swung this towards him.
"He struck him in the head and body with the item. The other prisoner threw punches back, and Cole also punched him in the head and body.
"The prisoner sustained an immediate bleeding injury to his face as a result of one of these punches."
Staff became aware of the incident and separated the pair; Cole received medical treatment within the prison, while the other inmate had to be taken to Crosshouse Hospital.
Hospital staff, Mr Wainwright said, found the other prisoner had a large laceration running from his temple down his neck, as well as a small cut on the bridge of his nose and two on his chest.
The wounds were closed using sutures and glue before he was released from hospital the same day.
Cole’s solicitor, David Tod, said his client’s victim was also due to appear in court in connection with the incident.
"This [the boiling water incident] happened in a landing full of people,” Mr Tod said.
"He should have reported it to staff, but that is not the environment he lives in.
"Unless he does something about that he would be victimised again.”
Cole was blamed by Greenock gangster Robert Warnock – who is serving consecutive prison sentences for murder and attempted murder, and is not due for release until 2045 - for an attack on Warnock’s younger brother Reece in August 2019.
Reece Warnock, who was aged 18 at the time, died after falling ill less than two months on from the attack.
People and properties linked to Cole and his half-brother, Andrew Sutherland, were then targeted in a series of firebomb attacks, orchestrated by Robert Warnock from inside prison.
In October 2022, and despite prison restrictions on the use of mobile phones, Cole was able to post on social media gloating about an attack on Robert Warnock by an inmate at Addiewell prison in West Lothian.
Shaun Charles, the victim of Cole’s 2018 murder bid, was himself handed a 10-year extended sentence – eight years of which will be spent behind bars - in July 2024 after stabbing a man in Greenock who confronted him for slashing his car’s tyres.
Sheriff George Jamieson imposed a further 14-month prison sentence on Cole for the Kilmarnock prison assault, but said it would have no impact on his anticipated earliest release date, currently July 2027.
