Search for missing prison inmate

Dec 28 2012

An inmate has failed to return to prison after being granted home leave over Christmas.

Tayside Police are appealing for information to help trace Raymond Byrne, 47, who was expected to return to HMP Castle Huntly near Dundee.

He failed to return from a period of temporary release to his home town of Irvine.

Byrne was serving 54 months after being convicted of assault at the High Court in Aberdeen in May 2011.

There was a confirmed sighting of Byrne on Thursday afternoon in Irvine town centre. He was wearing a white Celtic away football shirt, dark blue jeans, a dark blue checked jacket and he was carrying a blue holdall.

He is 5ft 8in tall, with grey/white receding hair and blue eyes. He has a scar on the bridge of his nose and tattoos of a matchstick man, a flower and a cross on his arms. He is also missing the little finger on his right hand.