Bonnie Bluebells From The Curate's Coppice

Dear Sir,

I couldn't but notice the following Scottish stories :

"Extended home leave for prisoners"

Inmates at an open prison are being freed for a week each month under a new extended home leave scheme.

The move at Noranside Prison in Angus will be introduced from next week by the Scottish Prison Service.

The prison, near Forfar, currently houses about 140 long-term prisoners, including murderers and rapists.

"Prison break robber spared jail"

A prisoner who broke out of jail and robbed a nearby house before returning to his cell has been given 300 hours community service.

Alan Wright absconded from Castle Huntly prison, near Dundee, in August 2002 so he could pay off drug debts.

Fiscal depute Hannah Kennedy said: "The accused escaped from Castle Huntly, where he was an inmate at the time.

"He left the premises and committed the crimes. It's not certain how he left, but the suspicion is that he left and returned by a window."

Wright had formerly been involved with the Calton Athletic group in Glasgow and had become a keen marathon runner.

He also lectured in school drug misuse.

"Anti-violence campaign under way"

A 12-month campaign against violent crime in Scotland has been launched.
The Safer Scotland campaign will see officers working with health, education and social workers in an effort to stop violent behaviour before it starts.

It comes as one of the country's top law enforcers admitted that previous strategies have had no great impact on violence levels over the past 40 years.

Scotland has one of Europe's highest violent crime rates, with more than 100 (actually 137) people killed in attacks each year.

"'The Hawk' jailed for gun offence"

At the time of the offence Martin, from Ballingry, Fife, was out on licence from a 12-year prison sentence for assault, robbery and firearms offences.

"3 dead, 4 hurt in wave of stabbings"

A teenager has died after an attack on the south side of Glasgow, the latest fatality in a weekend of stabbings in the west of Scotland that resulted in three men being killed and four seriously injured.

Craig McCulloch, 18, from the Merrylee area of the city, was taken by ambulance to the Victoria Infirmary in the early hours of Sunday morning and died there a short time later.

Two youths, aged 15 and 16, are expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court today in connection with his death.

In the weekend of violence, Robert Gardner, 36, was killed in a prolonged and violent assault by a gang of four men in the Port Glasgow area of Inverclyde in the early hours of Sunday. He had been on his way to meet his girlfriend when he was chased and beaten in Castlehill Avenue.

Officers described the attack as a "horrendous" assault on a quiet and well-liked individual.

Mr Gardner suffered multiple wounds in the attack, part of which was witnessed by his girlfriend. He died in the street where he lay.

Police last night said a 17-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the death of Mr Gardner.

At 11:30pm, officers were called to a disturbance in Williamson Drive, where the victim lived, resulting in Mr Folan being taken to hospital, where he later died.

Another man, aged 44, was also found at the property with serious injuries and he remained in a critical condition at hospital yesterday. Strathclyde Police are thought to be following a positive line of inquiry in that case.

In one incident in the Port Glasgow area, not believed to be linked to the killing of Mr Gardner, a 24-year-old man was stabbed outside a house in Devol Avenue, and taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock, where he was in a serious but stable condition yesterday.

The other two cases of attempted murder involve the stabbing of two men, aged 28 and 45, during a row involving as many as eight people.

The incident happened at about 10:30pm on Sunday in Prospecthill Circus, Toryglen, Glasgow.

Could these stories by any chance be related ?

Yours etc