Missing court youth arrested

McCormick walked into a young offenders institution

A 17-year-old who went missing after a court appearance earlier this month has been arrested by Strathclyde Police.

James McCormick is believed to have walked into Polmont Young Offenders Institution near Falkirk early on Sunday morning.

He is expected to appear at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Monday.

A 16-year-old girl was charged last week with attempting to pervert the course of justice, in relation to his disappearance.

McCormick's disappearance took place just days after a new private security company, Reliance, took over the contract to escort those in custody to and from courts.

It sparked a major investigation into the procedures and systems the new company was using.

A major political row has erupted over the Scottish Executive's privatisation of this service.

The justice minister even undertook a spot check of the company's operations from Barlinnie to Sheriff courts to see if their service was improving.

House raids

Though McCormick went missing while he was being escorted by Reliance, Strathclyde Police have had the task of finding him.

The case was given high priority and police set up an incident room at Hamilton, which co-ordinated information from across Scotland.

Several flats and houses have been raided in the past weeks, and in some cases police believe he had been there but moved on before they arrived.