AN ESCAPEE from Castle Huntly open prison tried to pass himself off to police as a walker on a day out, Perth Sheriff Court heard.

James Gall (24) was yesterday sentenced to 30 days’ imprisonment, to be carried out at the end of his current sentence.

He was spotted by a member of the public as he crawled through a field within sight of the prison at Longforgan.

Police who found Gall hiding in long grass noticed he was out of breath and he indicated he was a keen walker heading for Dundee.

Gall admitted that on Sunday, at HMP Castle Huntly, having been detained on shoplifting, reset and housebreaking charges and sentenced to four years, seven months and 15 days imprisonment by Aberdeen Sheriff Court, he absconded with intent to defeat the ends of justice.

Gall’s solicitor Nicola Wilcox told the court her client had a long history of offending due to a drug habit and had “found it very difficult to maintain his drug-free status due to the prevalence of drugs at the prison.”

Of the escape she said, “This was a spur of the moment decision and an act of desperation.

“He did not intend to remain at large but simply wished to be returned to closed conditions where he would find it easier to remain drug free.”

A prisoner admitted failing to return to Noranside jail in Angus when he appeared from custody at Forfar Sheriff Court yesterday.

Philip Marshall Camp Thomson (33) pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by failing to return from temporary release from the open establishment near Forfar on February 6.

The court heard he had been jailed for nine years at the High Court in Edinburgh in January 2004.

Sheriff Kevin Veal sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment, to run consecutively to his existing term.