A HORRIFIED woman prison officer thought that liquid hurled at her by an inmate serving eight years was urine, a court was told.

In fact it was water, but Holly Emery, 26, went through the psychological trauma of believing it was a harmful liquid that could affect her health.

Alexander Russell, 36, now in a Norfolk prison, was sentenced to 23 weeks custody to be served consecutively to his current sentence for robbery.

He pleaded guilty to common assault last August when at Berwyn Prison in Wrexham, a Category C establishment with a capacity of 2,106, one of the biggest in Europe.

Chairman Graham Edwards told Llandudno Magistrates Court that Russell would also have to pay £200 compensation to the officer.

“It was a particularly vile offence which caused a great deal of distress to the officer and the wider prison community,” he added.

Compensation to Miss Emery was to mark the “emotional, psychological effect your action had on her”.

He added Russell had a long list of previous convictions.

Barrister Tom Rushton, prosecuting, read a statement from the victim describing how, thinking it was urine, she had run to wash herself after fluid had been thrown in her hair, eyes and mouth. She had felt degraded.

In an impact statement she said: “This incident has had a serious effect on me.

"It wasn’t urine but it was what I believed at the time.”

Euros Jones, defending, said Russell had been jailed for eight years in 2016 at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent and his release date was some time in 2020.

He had tried without success to be transferred from Berwyn and thought the best way was to throw water over a prison officer.

Russell thought he had said at the time it was water.