ONE of Scotland's most notorious killers has spent his first night as a free man in more than 40 years after he was released from prison.

Thomas McCulloch is understood to have wanted to settle in the Dundee area, which he has visited more than 100 times while on unsupervised visits from HMP Castle Huntly in Angus.

He also has a steady girlfriend, Susan Perrie, in the city and is known to have taken several day trips to St Andrews with her.

McCulloch, 65 – who murdered three people with an axe after escaping from Carstairs State Hospital, South Lanarkshire, in 1976 – was released yesterday morning from the open prison and driven away by police officers.

He will have to conform to restrictions laid out in his life licence, an automatic condition for all lifers in Scotland, although details of his requirements have not been made public.

Politicians have condemned his released but McCulloch had used human rights legislation to challenge a judgment that would have seen him die in jail.

He was originally sent to Carstairs in 1970 after trying to kill two hotel workers following a row over a sandwich. Six years later, McCulloch and Robert Mone – a convicted murderer who had become his gay lover – broke out of Carstairs Hospital.

They used an axe to murder hospital worker Neil McLennan, 46, and inmate Iain Simpson, 40, while on a food break.

After climbing over the perimeter fence, they used the same weapon to kill police officer George Taylor, 27. Another policeman and two workmen were badly injured as the killers continued on their bloody spree.

McCulloch and Mone were eventually captured in Carlisle where they had taken a young family hostage.

Relatives of his victims have argued that McCulloch should not be allowed a life outside of prison.

In 2012, Neil McLennan's son John, of Argyll, said: "Life should be life. He was sentenced to die in jail and I don't see why that should have changed. He gets another chance, but there's three people in the cemetery who won't because of what he did."

Attempts have been made before to integrate McCulloch into life outside of prison after the punishment part of his sentence was fixed to a maximum of 30 years in 2002 and a parole board ruled he was no longer a threat to the public.

However, a move to house him in Dumbarton in 2010 ended badly after locals threatened to lynch him when the identity of their new neighbour was revealed.

McCulloch is known to have embarked on a relationship with 48-year-old Ms Perrie while on day release from Castle Huntly.

The Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Parole Board do not comment on individual cases.

Both McCulloch and Mone were told they would die in prison but, following a legal challenge, have been eligible for parole since 2006.

Mone was jailed in 1967 after he held a teacher and a class of girls hostage at St John's RC High School in Dundee. Teacher Nanette Harrison was shot dead by Mone who also sexually assaulted some of the pupils.

Moves to integrate Mone back into the community in 2011 stalled after prison staff became concerned about his behaviour.