Absconded killer Daniel Somers went on run from homeless unit
A convicted killer who spent more than a month on the run from an open prison was given home leave despite not having a home to go to, a court has heard.
Daniel Somers was arrested over the weekend after he failed to return to Castle Huntly near Dundee on 7 March.
Perth Sheriff Court heard he had been allowed out of jail to stay at a homeless unit in Glasgow but had spent only minutes there before absconding.
Sheriff Fiona Tait imposed a further six month sentence on the 49-year-old.
Somers has spent most of his life behind bars after being sentenced to life for murder in 1978, aged 16.
He was released on licence in 1999, but was jailed again after an assault charge in October 2000.
At Perth Sheriff Court he admitted breaking temporary leave conditions by failing to stay where he was supposed to.
Fiscal depute Stuart Richardson said: "He was given a period of leave. Various conditions were attached to that. One was that he should stay at a particular hostel in Glasgow.
"On the day he set off for Glasgow the hostel phoned that evening to say he had never arrived and the police became involved."
Solicitor James Smith, for Somers, said that his client had briefly turned up at the hostel but had gone out again and had not returned for his night curfew.
"He missed his curfew and realised he had made a mistake. He didn't know how to solve the problem and as every day passed the problem got bigger until he was arrested."