PRISON bosses are under fire after it emerged that a Greenock man found guilty of attempted murder has been using a mobile phone behind bars to post on social media.

Leonard Cole, 23, who was this week convicted by a jury of trying to kill a man in a broad daylight machete attack on Union Street, has been busy updating Snapchat and Instagram with photographs of himself and others from behind prison walls.

The Tele can reveal that a full probe is now under way into the serious security breach.

But Greenock MSP Jamie Greene, who is the Conservative shadow justice secretary, is furious that Cole has been able to pose for selfies and take pictures with other inmates which he has then posted on his pages.

Mr Greene says it shows that murder bid thug Cole has been able to abuse a controversial £3m prisoner phone scheme.

The initiative saw around 7,600 purportedly tamper-proof phones given to inmates to replace in-person visiting during the pandemic.

Mr Greene said: "We have repeatedly raised concerns with the SNP government over their shambolic prisoner phone scheme.

"In prisons across Scotland, criminals are using tampered mobile phones to harass victims, facilitate drug deals and participate in organised crime from behind prison walls.

"While the scheme, which has cost the Scottish taxpayer an eye-watering £3 million, was introduced to put prisoners in touch with their families, it is clearly being abused by inmates.

"The Scottish Conservatives would see an end to this shambolic scheme, and implement a more sensible and safer alternative, such as wall-mounted, communal phones."

The Scottish Prison Service say that they will take 'all appropriate action' about the posts being made by Cole online.

A spokesperson for the SPS said: "The possession of a mobile phone in prison is a criminal offence.

"If we receive information to suggest that prisoners are in possession of such devices we will take all appropriate action and report it to the relevant authorities."

Cole is due to be sentenced next month for leaving his victim Shaun Charles fighting for life following the 2018 murder attempt.

During his trial he claimed he had acted in self-defence and that the machete blow he inflicted was 'accidental'.

But a panel of eight men and seven women at the High Court in Paisley didn't believe him and he is today behind bars facing a lengthy prison term.