Darren Henderson, 45, will now have to serve a further nine months.
He admitted absconding from the legal custody of the prison governor by failing to return at 2.30pm as per the terms of his release on temporary licence, and possessing a knife in a public place.
The court was told how his latest sentence had commenced in February 2021. The temporary licence enabled him to leave the prison between 9.30am and 2.30pm each Sunday to visit his mother in order to aid his resettlement upon his release.
He had to travel by bicycle, which the prison provided. On the day in question, Henderson had not returned to the prison by 2.30pm and when staff tried to call his mother at 2.40pm she did not answer the phone.
At 3.11pm officers located him walking towards his mother’s house and there was no sign of the bicycle. He was carrying a black pouch and appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs as his speech was slurred. He had not had the pouch when he left the prison and it contained a knife with a blade three inches long. Helped by viewing doorbell footage, investigations found that he had been elsewhere and not at his mother’s house.
He gave mostly no comment responses to questions in interview but denied being under the influence of drink or drugs. He said he had gone to a friend’s house to talk, and said he was not aware that it was an offence to carry a knife.
Defending, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client had spent the time with his ex-partner and he realised he had broken the rules. The knife had not been used or brandished. He suffered a chaotic upbringing and had spent so much of his life in custody that he was now institutionalised. Being in the community was now a prison to him, he said.
Judge Gary Perry said the defendant had an appalling record.
‘You are, in effect, institutionalised and I understand that that can be a difficult cycle to break, but you are the only one who can do it,’ he said. The knife offence was an aggravating feature.
Henderson was jailed for nine months for breaching the terms of his release licence, with three months, concurrent, for possessing the knife in a pubic place. Forfeiture and destruction of the knife was ordered.
