Findings from a prison inquiry set up after an inmate went on the run are expected to be published on Thursday.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill ordered the probe after Brian Martin, 51, nicknamed The Hawk, absconded from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee in May.

It later emerged that Martin (pictured) should not have been transferred to an open prison in the first place.

Martin, serving ten years for firearms offences, later handed himself in to police after seven days at large.

Last year, another inmate Robert Foye raped a schoolgirl after going on the run from the same jail. Foye’s that case led to a tightening of regulations.

Mr MacAskill ordered an inquiry by penal expert Professor Alex Spencer, a former governor of Peterhead prison.

When announcing the probe by Professor Spencer, the minister told MSPs that the process put in place after the Foye case had not been properly followed.

"If the process had been properly followed, the likelihood is that Martin would not have been transferred to the open estate," he said.

The political row over Martin's absconding was compounded when another prisoner, John Brown, serving life for murder, failed to return to Castle Huntly from a period of home leave.