Half of jail’s inmates to go home for Christmas

MORE than half of the offenders held in Scotland’s open prison are being allowed home over the festive period.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said it plans to let 131 of the 218 inmates in Castle Huntly have home leave during Christmas week. A further ten will get home leave from the jail near Dundee over New Year.

An SPS spokesman said: ‘At present we have 131 prisoners listed to go out over the Christmas week and New Year home leaves currently stand at ten.

‘The exact numbers will not be known until after the New Year and the numbers given are expected to change.’

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘There has been a big reported increase in the number of prisoners absconding over the last year from Castle Huntly, so it is very important that a close watch is kept on any prisoners permitted to leave over Christmas.’

Last week, Perth Sheriff Court heard that killer Andrew Sharkey, 36, who has a history of fleeing from justice, walked out of Castle Huntly jail in June.

Sharkey, who was serving a life sentence, spent two nights staying with friends before being rearrested.

And James Boyle, 24, from Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, bragged on social media about being on the run after failing to return from home leave in February. He was serving eight years for attempted murder.