‘Hawk’ gets extra bird for fleeing

May 29 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A VIOLENT criminal, nicknamed The Hawk, had his wings clipped at Perth Sheriff Court this week after he flew the coop from an open prison.

Fifty-one-year-old Brian Martin, who sparked a nationwide manhunt after he went on the run from Castle Huntly, near Longforgan, had an extra four months added to his present sentence.

Martin, from Ballingry, Fife, was serving a 10-year term imposed at Edinburgh High Court in May, 2006, for firing a gun during a fight.

He was on licence at the time from a 12-year prison sentence for assault and robbery and firearms offences.

He pled guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by absconding from Castle Huntly on May 18.

Depute fiscal Janine Bates said that prison officers saw the accused at 1pm during routine patrols at the prison.

But he failed to keep an appointment at 3pm and a head count and search were carried out.

She didn't have any information as to where he had stayed during his week of freedom but had handed himself in to Kinross Police Station on Monday afternoon.

Solicitor Cliff Culley said that Martin had spent most of his 10-year sentence at Shotts Prison in Lanarkshire until being transferred to Castle Huntly three weeks earlier.

It was clear he wasn’t “welcome” there. There were officers whom he had come across in the past who weren’t keen for him to be there.

“He was advised he wouldn’t be there for a considerable period of time and decided to ‘walk’.

“He wasn’t at liberty for a considerable period. He went to see his family in the Fife area but on seeing the extensive publicity, he handed himself in voluntarily.”

Imposing the four-month term, Sheriff Mark Stewart told him: “You understand that, with a record as significant and extensive as yours, it’s a significant matter when you absent yourself from one of Her Majesty’s prisons.

“I take into account you were at liberty for a short period of time and that you handed yourself in.”