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'Hawk' hands himself into police | 'Hawk' hands himself into police |
(40 minutes later) | |
A prisoner on the run from Castle Huntly open prison for the past week has handed himself in to police. | A prisoner on the run from Castle Huntly open prison for the past week has handed himself in to police. |
Brian Martin, known as "The Hawk", sparked a nationwide alert after absconding from the jail, near Dundee, last Monday. | Brian Martin, known as "The Hawk", sparked a nationwide alert after absconding from the jail, near Dundee, last Monday. |
Martin, 51, who was transferred to Castle Huntly from Shotts prison in April, was sentenced three years ago to 10 years for firing a gun in a house. | Martin, 51, who was transferred to Castle Huntly from Shotts prison in April, was sentenced three years ago to 10 years for firing a gun in a house. |
The 51-year-old, from Ballingry, handed himself in to Kinross police station. | The 51-year-old, from Ballingry, handed himself in to Kinross police station. |
At the time of the gun incident, Martin was out on licence from a 12-year prison sentence for assault, robbery and firearms offences. | At the time of the gun incident, Martin was out on licence from a 12-year prison sentence for assault, robbery and firearms offences. |
He is known to have family in the Kinross area. | He is known to have family in the Kinross area. |
Martin's disappearance led to a Holyrood row. | |
Both Labour and the Tories demanded an independent review of open prisons and the Tories at one stage considered tabling a no-confidence motion in Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. | |
Regulations were said to have been tightened after the case of Robert Foye, jailed last year for raping a schoolgirl while on the run from Castle Huntly. | |
Labour questioned why Martin was in an open prison in the first place. | |
The case dominated Labour leader Iain Gray's exchanges with Alex Salmond during First Minister's Questions in Holyrood last Thursday. | |
Mr MacAskill said later that the number of people absconding from open prisons had fallen sharply since the Foye case. | |
He also wrote to the head of the prison service, Mike Ewart, to ensure "any further lessons from this current case are applied." | |
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said locating Martin was a "significant relief" for the general public and for Mr MacAskill. | |
He said: "He was surely afraid that if Brian Martin created any more havoc it would have brought his career to an end. | |
Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown said: "People in the local area will be breathing a big sigh of relief at this news. | |
"They'll be joined by the justice secretary as the spotlight has been firmly focused on his mistakes for the past two weeks." | |
He added: "Kenny MacAskill needs to up his game. A good start would be reviewing this inmate's suitability for Castle Huntly." |