A man who murdered his friend was found using an illicit padlock as a weapon while serving life in a maximum security prison. Convicted killer Paul Cannop, 28, tied up the metal padlock inside a sock to use as a makeshift cudgel behind bars at Perth Prison.
Cannop - who is serving a minimum 17-year sentence - admitted having a padlock tied into a sock inside the jail on January 5 this year.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey deferred sentence for Cannop to be brought to the court in a fortnight's time to be personally present for sentencing.
The sheriff said: "This is the kind of thing that calls for a custodial sentence and I don't consider it appropriate to impose that in his absence."
Earlier this month, Cannop, from Thurso, had a six-month concurrent sentence imposed to run alongside the life term he's already serving.
Cannop, a former surfing champion, admitted having a prohibited sim card within the prison shortly after being convicted and jailed for four months for an identical offence.
Fiscal depute David Currie told the court that prison officers noticed Cannop appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. He said: "They carried out a search of his cell and found a mobile phone which had clearly been tampered with. It was a prison issue phone but an illicit sim card."
Cannop is serving a minimum 17 years for stabbing his friend Paul Fairweather, 32, to death in a row over a £40 drug debt.
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