First Minister Alex Salmond today faced a Labour attack over the escape of a prisoner once dubbed "the most dangerous man in Britain".

First Minister Alex Salmond today faced a Labour attack over the escape of a prisoner once dubbed "the most dangerous man in Britain".

Labour leader Iain Gray said the escape of Brian Martin from an open prison was the latest sign that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was "just not up to the job".

He launched the attack at First Minister's Questions at Holyrood where Mr Salmond defended his Justice Secretary and insisted the number of absconders from open jails was lower than under Labour.

The Holyrood exchanges followed the escape of Martin, 51, from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee on Monday.

Martin, who had been transferred to Castle Huntly from Shotts prison in April, was sentenced three years ago to 10 years for firearms offences.

At Question Time, Mr Salmond began by telling MSPs that a long-standing target for treating 95% of urgently-referred cancer patients had been reached for the first time under the SNP.

Mr Gray ignored this and went straight onto the attack over the Martin case, demanding: "Why was a man with a long record of violence and fleeing justice being held in an open prison in the first place?"

Mr Salmond said open prisons were intended for long-term prisoners approaching the end of their sentence.

"Any absconding from an open prison is to be deeply regretted", said Mr Salmond, who told MSPs there had been three this year, two of whom had been apprehended.

Mr Gray told MSPs: "When he walked out of the open prison on Monday, Brian Martin was just three years into a 10-year sentence for firing a gun during a fight in a house in Fife.

"His previous offences included a string of armed robberies and threatening police with a sawn-off shotgun.

"This is a man once dubbed the most dangerous man in Britain.

"Will the First Minister agree that Brian Martin should not have been in an open prison in the first place?"