Police have launched a probe after six cars were torched outside a Scots prison last night.
Fire crews raced to HMP Addiewell in West Lothian after the vehicles were set alight in the car park at around 10.15pm on Saturday. It's understood the vehicles belonged to prison officers who were on the nightshift.
The car windows were said to be smashed before the vehicles were set on fire. Firefighters battled the blaze before officers launched an investigation.
The car park remained taped off on Sunday morning while the burnt out shells of the motors were pictured at the scene.
A source told the Record: "A number of cars were set on fire last night at Addiewell Prison and two cars had their windows smashed in.
"All of the cars belonged to prison officers who were doing the nightshift. Police have taped the car park off this morning."
In August 2016 masked thugs torched prison guards’ cars in a weekend petrol bomb attack at HMP Addiewell. A BMW, a Vauxhall Antara 4x4, a Mini, a Citroen C3 and another car were targeted in the jail’s car park.
Three suspects, who wore balaclavas, set fire to three of the cars and damaged the other two while a fourth person waited in a getaway car. Police later found a stolen blue Range Rover Evoque - used as the getaway car - burnt-out and dumped 20 miles away in Harvester Way, Edinburgh.
In August 2021 a whistleblower told the Record prison guards routinely turn a blind eye to illegal activities inside crisis-hit Addiewell prison. It came after shocking images emerged of an inmate kissing a warder at the jail.
In January last year we told how organised crime gang members were offering prison officers up to £3,000 to smuggle iPhones into the jail. The sum is the equivalent of almost two months' wages and 30 times the price of some second-hand devices.
Meanwhile, in April two prison officers were attacked by an inmate in the Douglas A wing of the private jail. It’s understood both were punched in a flare-up with an unnamed prisoner.
No-one was injured as a result of the incident on Saturday night. Cops have confirmed they are treating the fires as wilful and enquiries are ongoing.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police received report of six cars on fire in the car park at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian around 10.15pm on Saturday, 7 January, 2023.
“The fires were extinguished by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and no-one was injured.
“The fires are being treated as wilful and enquiries are ongoing.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "We took the call from Police Scotland at 10.22pm on Saturday, January 7, to reports of a number of cars alight within the car park at Addiewell Prison.
"We sent three appliances to the scene and left around 12am assuring the area was made safe. There were no reported casualties."
The Scottish Prison Service was contacted for comment.
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