A former prison officer wants £300,000 damages for psychiatric illness after he swallowed blood from an inmate as he broke up a fight in Glasgow's Barlinnie jail.

Edward Pratt said he had to wait months for the results of tests for Aids and hepatitis, which finally proved negative.

Mr Pratt claims the Scottish Prison Service was "uninterested, indifferent and unsympathetic and did not offer him counselling".

He maintains that because of failures by the service he suffered psychiatric illness, including anxiety and depression.

Mr Pratt, 44, was on duty at Barlinnie in August 1997 when a fight broke out in a recreation room in A' Hall.

One of the inmates had a bleeding face and he grabbed him as he sought to stop the violence.

The prisoner shook his head and the warder's face and shirt ended up covered in blood. Some blood went into the officer's mouth and he swallowed it.

Mr Pratt said in a legal action raised at the Court of Session, Edinburgh, the prisoner was a drug user, who injected, and the SPS was aware of this.

He said he reported the incident to a supervisor but was not told he could get support and counselling from a care team in the prison. He went to the jail's medical centre and was given a mouthwash.

He claims the SPS did not send him for blood tests or offer him support or counselling.

Mr Pratt said in his action that when he went home he became anxious and could not sleep. The next day he went to Ruchill Hospital on his own to get tested for potential contamination illnesses.

He was signed off work after being diagnosed as suffering from a depressive state.

He later returned to his job, but left the service in 2001. Mr Pratt, of Methil, Fife, made a claim for criminal injuries compensation and won £4300.

The SPS is contesting the action, disputes liability and says the sum sued for is excessive. It claims he was given appropriate and correct advice after the incident.

The case continues.