JUSTICE Secretary Chris Grayling said there will be "no nonsense" over the naming of on-the-run criminals whose identities had been kept secret by Government officials.
Thirteen out of 18 missing convicts, whose identities had been withheld because Government officials believed it would be "unfair" to publish them, have now been named.
Mr Grayling stated that data protection laws will not be used to protect them, arguing: "They are wanted men and should be treated as such. That's why on my watch we will not hold back their names, unless the police ask us for operational reasons."
It comes after a Freedom of Information request to release the identities of missing prisoners had been rejected by the Ministry of Justice - without considering whether it would be in the public interest to release the information.
The request was made after armed robbed Michael Wheatley - known as " Skull cracker" - absconded while on temporary release from an open prison three weeks ago.
Rapist Robert Jones, arsonist Shied Riasat, burglars Viorel Avadanii and Steven Fortnam and robbers Sean Morrisey, Cesk Hanja and Islam Aslam are among 13 names which have now been published.
Andrew Akuffo, who was serving life for wounding with intent, drugs and firearms offences, Michael Collinson who was given almost seven years for wounding with intent, and Tom Zolynski, a carer who stole £10,000 from a frail, elderly man, are also at large.
It was reported that of the five names being withheld, two have been recaptured and face criminal charges while police have asked for three more to stay classified on "operational" grounds.
Mr Grayling said: "We take any abscondings seriously, reporting it to police immediately. The police catch most of them quickly.
"Even so, I think the rules in open prisons have been too lax and I am tightening them."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article