A THUG who attacked a dad while he was on remand in prison after they left a church service has been spared jail.

Mark Quigley, 27, assaulted Ross Sherlock in Low Moss Prison, who was held after refusing to give evidence at the trial where two men were accused of attempting to murder him.

Sherlock, 36, and Quigley were part of a “scuffle” in a corridor that was caught on CCTV.

Quigley, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to assaulting Sherlock on March 12 last year at the prison and striking him on the body.

Sheriff Andrew Cubie handed him a 15-month Community Payback Order with the condition he is supervised.

Passing sentence, he said: “Given where this took place this is a serious matter. Given your record, I would have been entitled to consider custody.”

The court heard Sherlock was in Low Moss on remand at the time after being the victim of an attempted murder but refused to give evidence.

Procurator fiscal depute John Bedford said between 10am and 10.15am there was a church service with prisoners from various halls, and that there was an “unusually high number” of people at the service on that day.

Mr Bedford said there was prison staff at each end of the corridor when prisoners were being taken back to their halls.

He said: “A scuffle took place which involved Mr Sherlock being assaulted.”

CCTV from the corridor captured the incident and Quigley was detained and made no reply to police when he was later charged.

Defence lawyer Stephen Grady said Quigley had been trying to address mental health issues.

He added: “He fully accepts his responsibility.”

Last year, two men were cleared of shooting Sherlock outside a primary school in front of horrified pupils on September 24, 2015.

William Burns, 56, and Alexander Porter, 48, had denied attempting to murder him.