Football injury prisoner sues for £20,000

Aug 31 2008 By Gordon Currie

A DRUG dealer is claiming £20,000 damages after being injured during a prison football match.

Hugh Carlyle was serving three years when he allegedly hurt an Achilles tendon.

He did not realise how bad it was until 12 days after release in June 2005 when he collapsed at his home. He says he needed emergency treatment in hospital.

Carlyle, of Monkton, Ayrshire, said he was left in a full-leg plaster cast for eight weeks and a partial cast for a further six.

And he said he was in severe discomfort and had four months of physio.

He also alleged staff at Castle Huntly jail, Dundee, failed to treat him properly.

Now Carlyle has lodged a claim at Perth Sheriff Court. In his writ, he claimed he was hurt during the match with other cons. But a prison doctor said the injury was not serious and only gave him a painkiller.

The writ added: "Staff should have recognised that the injury was of sufficient seriousness to merit emergency treatment at hospital."

Carlyle said £20,000 was a "reasonable estimate" of the losses he had suffered as a result of the injury.