A prisoner has admitted running off from Castle Huntly open jail to see his pregnant girlfriend.

Paul Sharp fled the prison near Dundee on Saturday after hearing his partner was expecting a baby for the second time during his ten-year sentence. He only got as far as the nearest bus stop and was back in custody after just an hour.

At Perth Sheriff Court on Tuesday, the 23-year-old admitted absconding and was jailed for eight months.

Sharp, who was locked up when he was just 17, has an 11-month-old child as a result of a previous visit home to see his partner. And the court heard how Sharp was allowed out for a brief home visit earlier this year.

Sheriff Paul Arthurson made his new sentence concurrent after hearing he would not be released until 2013.

The court was told that Sharp was due to appear before a prison tribunal on Wednesday to argue for early release but would not be considered for that for at least two years.

In 2004, Sharp was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow for assault.