Absconded prisoner suspected of assault

The prisoner was allowed out on day release

A prisoner who went on the run from a Scottish jail is suspected of assaulting an elderly woman.

Gordon Johnstone, 43, from Glasgow, was on a course designed to prepare him for life outside HMP Edinburgh, when he failed to return on Saturday.

The prisoner is suspected of assaulting an elderly woman in the city after he went missing. She is not thought to have been seriously injured.

Gordon Johnstone: History of violence

Johnstone, who has sentences totalling 19 years for a number of crimes of dishonesty and violence, has absconded from prison twice before.

Prison officials said Johnstone was not thought to pose a risk to the public and was therefore eligible for day release.

However, Help the Aged expressed concern and demanded assurances when it was revealed that he had a record of violence against elderly people.

Chief Executive Liz Duncan said: "As we understand it this is a man who has a consistent pattern of attacking vulnerable older people when he's not in prison.

"He seems to have been able to get out a couple of times and we really worry about this kind of incident and wonder what the authorities are doing to secure older people in the community."

And Christine Graham MSP, the convener elect of one of Holyrood's Justice committees, has called for an inquiry into the incident.

She wants to know why Johnstone was able to abscond in the first place and why it took the police and prison service 48 hours to issue a public alert about him.

Work placements

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "The prisoner is still missing and so far we have not had any leads as to his whereabouts."

The programme is designed to reintegrate inmates into society and involves work placements and allocating them time away from jail to spend with their families.

A Scottish Prison Service (SPS) spokeswoman said: "The prisoner was on the Training for Freedom programme and failed to report back to the unit.

Liz Duncan: Seeking assurances

"He is a Category D prisoner who was not deemed to be a risk to the public.

"The programme is a means of testing whether a prisoner is suitable for release and a number of inmates are on schemes such as this.

"Unfortunately every so often some prisoners fail to return."

The spokeswoman advised people to avoid approaching him.

The unit where the programme is carried out has a residential section of HMP Edinburgh and the prisoners taking part are kept separate from the other inmates.

Johnstone was described as white, 6ft tall, with short light brown hair. He was clean shaven and of medium build.

He was last seen wearing a dark baseball cap, dark bomber-style jacket, dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt.