A Derry man has been jailed for a month after admitting poisoning a prisoner officer while he was in jail awaiting sentencing for a spate of burglaries.
Bernard Cooke (21), from Lettershandoney, admitted spiking the soft drink of a female prison officer with mebeverine, an anti-spasmodic drug used to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
Cooke was on remand at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in Belfast when he committed the offence on 21 May last year.
Belfast Crown Court heard the officer involved was off work for a total of 185 after suffering low blood pressure and a high heartbeat immediately after the incident.
The judge was told when interviewed, Cooke told police he thought he had given her a laxative, stating he had done it as a “joke”.
Cooke will serve the month when he finishes a sentence in May for a spate of burglaries in Derry in October, November and December 2012 when he broke into three Catholic churches and seven homes in the city.
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