AN inmate with a grievance against a prison officer sought revenge by spraying him in the face with urine, a court heard.

Callum James Goodwin, who was in C-Wing at Durham Prison, approached the officer in the exercise yard while holding a Radox bath salts bottle.

Durham Crown Court was told that as Goodwin got to within two metres of the officer, he shouted: “Boss”.

As the officer turned to his direction, Goodwin squirted a warm liquid from the bottle at his face, hitting his cheek and eye, before saying: “This is for talking to us like shit.”

Ian West, prosecuting, said the officer pressed his alarm and Goodwin was detained.

Mr West said the officer, who felt “disgusted” at what happened, went to clean up, and then had to go to hospital to be checked having been sprayed with a bodily fluid.

He said he was unsure if Goodwin had any illness and was in limbo waiting to see if he contracted anything.

In his victim statement, he added: “I shouldn’t expect this to happen to me when I was just doing my job.”

Goodwin made no comment to questions.

The court heard the 27-year-old has a record featuring 21 convictions for 39 offences.

Mr West said those convictions included cases of violence, carrying an offensive weapon and dishonesty, and Goodwin was in the jail on remand for a domestic incident, an alleged common assault, a punch to the face of a former partner.

But the court was told that since the incident in the prison, on June 16, last year, and after his release, he has committed further offences, including assaulting an emergency worker, a police custody officer.

Goodwin, of Percy Street, Jarrow, South Tyneside, admitted a charge of administering a poison, or other destructive or noxious thing, namely urine, with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy, an offence under the Offences Against the Person Act, 1971.

Ian Cook, mitigating, conceded his client has, “struggled to comply”, with court orders and orders made by the Probation Service.

He said the defendant has had mental health and drug issues, but also post-traumatic stress disorder arising from a stabbing at home.

But Mr Cook said Goodwin has recently changed his mental health medication and has attempted to tackle his drug issues himself, remaining substance-free for several weeks.

Imposing a 20-month prison sentence, Judge Ray Singh told Goodwin there was clearly pre-planning.

“It was assault, almost akin to using a weapon. When you target an officer in that environment it carries with it a more serious risk of disorder.

“He would have felt distressed and degraded, with a worry about any more serious consequences having been attacked with urine.”