By Alan Richardson

A MAJOR police manhunt was under way in Perth yesterday after a murderer escaped from custody while at the city’s royal infirmary.

The man, Glaswegian George McGeoch, was described by police as “extremely dangerous” last night.

He had been attending an appointment at the hospital under the supervision of security guards with the private firm Reliance when he absconded at 3.30pm.

McGeoch (36), a prisoner at HMP Dumfries, is serving a life sentence for offences including murder, abduction and assault to severe injury.

He escaped from two Reliance guards and made off on foot, although nobody was hurt in the incident.

Exact details of how he escaped were not being revealed.

Police immediately began combing the area and conducted door to door inquiries in the vicinity of the hospital.

The city’s CCTV system was also being checked, as were the nearby bus and train stations and roads around Perth.

A Tayside police spokesman last night issued a description of McGeogh and warned the public to be on their guard.

He said, “McGeoch is five feet nine inches tall, stocky, with very short ginger hair and a ginger Mexican-style moustache. At the time he was wearing a light T-shirt and dark jogging bottoms.

“He is considered to be extremely dangerous and should not be approached if seen by any member of the public.

“Members of the public are advised not to approach the absconder but to contact Tayside police immediately on 999 if they seen the absconder or have any information that could help to trace him and return him to custody.”

One resident of Jeanfield Road, on which sits the main entrance to the hospital, said, “It was an incredible scene.

“There must have been up to 30 police officers in uniform looking all over the place and loads of vehicles backed up along the road.

“It looked like the police were taking it really seriously so who knows what the guy had done to end up in prison in the first place.

“It certainly made me think twice about answering the door last night knowing there was someone on the loose.”

Another resident, Fraser Murchison (29), said, “Everyone up here is scared stiff that this man is running around the streets. I’ve locked my doors and windows—it is pretty scary stuff.

“It is a bit unnerving that someone as dangerous as this guy has managed to give them the slip. There are police swarming about everywhere up at the hospital and around the doors.”

At 5pm a Reliance van was seen being loaded onto a flat bed truck outside the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

McGeoch was jailed for life at the High Court in Inverness in April 1999 for murdering Eric Innes and was sentenced to 13 years.

Last year he was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of slashing a fellow inmate in Dumfries prison with a coffee jar.

He was sentenced to three years in jail.

And in 2001 he was involved in a siege at Edinburgh Saughton prison when he took two prison officers hostage.

Commenting after a prisoner absconded from the custody of security guards while on a visit to Perth Royal Infirmary for treatment, the Scottish National Party's Ms Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Perth Constituency, said yesterday, “By all accounts this man is extremely dangerous and I am very concerned that he should be at large and a threat to the safety of my constituents.

“The priority for everyone concerned, right now, must be to ensure that this man is apprehended and returned to custody as soon as possible.

“Thereafter, we can turn our attention to the question of how he was able to escape and what steps can be taken to ensure that something of this nature does not happen again.”