A brutal Perth murderer was able to flee prison and go on the run because many of its exits were not covered by CCTV.
Andrew Sharkey simply wandered out of Castle Huntly and into the night as he was serving a life sentence for a knife slaying.
He had been ordered to be detained for a minimum of 11 years after stabbing Shahid Khan at a house in Perth in 2003.
Sharkey had only just been moved from secure accommodation to the so-called “open prison” when he decided he’d had enough of incarceration.
He apparently crawled through mud to escape detection before calling a taxi and heading for a pub in Dundee’s Hilltown.
As a major manhunt began the Scottish Prison Service downplayed the incident.
A spokeswoman declined to comment on the suitability of CCTV or issues of security at Castle Huntly and refused to be drawn on warnings from Police Scotland during his jail break that he posed a danger to the public.
In 2003, the High Court in Edinburgh heard how Sharkey – then 21 – had plunged a knife into 17-year-old Shahid Khan’s chest, believing him to be a love rival.
The court was told that despite Sharkey’s fixation with the young woman in question, she had considered him nothing more than a friend.
He has been serving a life sentence but was moved from secure accommodation to Castle Huntly on April 25, apparently approaching the end of his time behind bars.
Within two months he had decided to make his break for freedom, with guards informed in June that he was missing from his cell.
Prison staff carried out a search of cells, buildings and prison grounds but found no trace of him on the premises.
CCTV footage showed him entering and exiting the kitchen earlier in the evening but he was then lost to sight.
The court was told that a number of exits from the prison building were not covered by CCTV.
While searches were taking place, he had jumped in a taxi in Invergowrie and been dropped-off at the Strath Bar in Dundee.
There, patrons took pity on him and took him to their home. As he waited for his clothes to dry he borrowed a mobile phone and called friends to enlist their help in evading the police.
Perth Sheriff Court heard he’d secured a couple of temporary places to hide before the police tracked him down.
The 36-year-old, now described as a prisoner at Edinburgh Prison, admitted breaking out of HMP Castle and absconding between June 30 and July 1 this year in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
Sharkey was sentenced to an additional eight months behind bars on top of his current sentence.
Mid Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “The public will be concerned about the manner in which Mr Sharkey escaped and the blind spots within Castle Huntly’s CCTV system.
“I would hope that prison bosses have used this experience to improve and enhance their security protocols.”
