A MAN ALLEGEDLY on the run from a Tayside prison for the past 16 months was back behind bars last night.

Terence Hutton (39) from Dunfermline is believed to have fled from custody during home leave from Castle Huntly open prison in May last year.

Hutton appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday but had his case continued without plea due to potential factual errors in the charge against him.

The Fife scaffolder was convicted in March 2006 of assault on a sleeping man and sentenced to a prison term, with a lengthy supervision period following his release because of his violent past.

Hutton’s case caused controversy last year when it emerged the Scottish Prison Service had not revealed he was missing until five months after he is said to have escaped.

He admitted attacking John Millar with a scaffolding spanner while he slept, having wrongly believed he was avenging the rape of his mother.

The attack left his victim with a fractured skull, broken cheek, leg and wrist.

Hutton was originally charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and the danger of life.

He was moved from Saughton in Edinburgh to Castle Huntly 15 months after being sentenced and granted a period of home leave on May 10 last year, from which police say he did not return, believing him to have made his way to London.

He appeared in the dock yesterday looking dishevelled.

He faced a charge that on May 10 2007, having been convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh of attempted murder and sentenced to eight years in prison, he failed to return to Castle Huntly having been granted home leave in accordance with a temporary release licence and attempted to defeat the ends of justice.

Hutton was remanded in custody and will return to court next Thursday.