A young Angus soldier who had gone missing on his way back to his barracks has been found safe and well.
Jamie Clark, who also goes by the surname Mitchell, is a 17-year-old junior soldier attached to the Scots Guards, and had been missing since April 7.
The former Montrose Academy pupil left for Catterick camp in north Yorkshire after spending a day out with his family and visiting his girlfriend.
His mother Jacquie Clark told The Courier how she attended Jamie’s passing-out parade in January, on her 40th birthday, and described it as ”the proudest moment of my life.”
The day after he was due to return to Catterick, the army called Jacquie to tell her that her son had never arrived.
Jacquie said: ”He always has weekend leave because of where he’s based, and he was due to be back on April 8.
”I got a phone call on the 9th, his dad’s birthday, to say he wasn’t there, and then they phoned me again on the 10th to say he was then AWOL (absent without leave).”
Jacquie said her son was in a characteristically buoyant mood before his return to camp.
”We’d had a really enjoyable afternoon with his sister, we were having a laugh,” she said. ”He had been with the Army since he was 16 it’s his birthday two weeks on Saturday.
”He has had a few issues at first when he was in training, but he overcame those and was so happy to be at the base.”
As concern grew for Jamie a Facebook page was set up by well-wishers with messages being left by friends as well as his little sister Keri.
However, on Sunday Jacquie revealed her son had called and that his dad was going to collect him and take him to Catterick.
Indications were that the army would treat Jamie’s case sympathetically.