Missing murderer Raymond McCourt caught on Edinburgh bus

Raymond McCourt absconded from HMP Castle Huntly on Tuesday

Police Scotland A mugshot of Raymond McCourt on the left and a CCTV picture on the right. — Raymond McCourt absconded from HMP Castle Huntly on Tuesday

A convicted murderer who went on the run from an open prison in Dundee has been found in Edinburgh.

Raymond McCourt was arrested by plain clothes officers after being removed from a Lothian Bus in the city’s London Road area on Friday morning.

He was earlier spotted on Duke Street in Glasgow after being reported missing from HMP Castle Huntly on Tuesday.

McCourt, 59, was jailed in 1993 after shooting shopkeeper Khalid Mahmood in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire.

An eyewitness told BBC Scotland News that McCourt was “surrounded” by six officers when he was asked to step off a No. 5 bus close to the junction with Leith Walk.

It is understood he boarded the bus in the Abbeyhill area minutes earlier.

Passengers saw him being searched by plain clothes and uniformed officers before the bus was allowed to move on.

Raymond McCourt was last seen on a street in the east end of Glasgow

Police Scotland Raymond McCourt captured on CCTV on a street in Glasgow - his face is obscured by a checked baseball cap and he is wearing a dark rain jacked and a white and red checked shirt. — Raymond McCourt was last seen on a street in the east end of Glasgow

McCourt was jailed at the age of 27 for the shooting of Khalid Mahmood.

He was released on licence in 2015, but was returned to prison after stealing valuables from his partner at the time.

He used the money to pay for a holiday to Blackpool before being tracked down by police.

Perth Sheriff Court heard that he was struggling to cope with life outside of prison and had stolen the items to have a blow-out prior to his return to jail.

He was given a further 10-month sentence for that crime and returned to prison on his life term for murder.

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