A convicted murderer, Raymond McCourt, who escaped from HMP Castle Huntly, Scotland's only open prison, has been re-arrested after a brief manhunt. McCourt, 59, was reported missing on Tuesday evening, sparking an urgent search by Police Scotland. The public was advised not to approach him, citing his dangerous history and connections to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

McCourt's criminal past includes the 1993 murder of newsagent Khalid Mahmood, whom he shot in the head during a robbery attempt. His spree of violence also left local woman Moira Rooney and PC Brian Williams injured. Despite being sentenced to life imprisonment, McCourt was released on license in 2015, only to be returned to prison shortly after for theft and failing to adapt to life outside.

The fugitive was last seen wearing distinctive clothing, including a long black trench coat and a blue shirt with a red and white tie, before his capture. Plain-clothed officers apprehended McCourt as he disembarked from a Lothian Bus service on Leith Walk in Edinburgh, bringing an end to the widespread search.

Authorities have expressed relief at McCourt's swift recapture, emphasizing the collaborative effort between the Scottish Prison Service and Police Scotland. McCourt's return to custody underscores the challenges of rehabilitating long-term prisoners and the vigilance required to maintain public safety.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an urgent independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, describing himself as "shocked" by families' experiences of "repeated maternity failures in Leeds - made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust." The decision comes after years of campaigning by bereaved families who reported feeling "gaslit, dismissed and even blamed" for what went wrong at one of Europe's largest teaching hospitals. Mr. Streeting emphasized the "stark contradiction between scale and safety standards" at the trust, which official data shows "remains an outlier on perinatal mortality."

The inquiry follows a June downgrade by the Care Quality Commission, which rated maternity services at the trust as "inadequate" and identified serious risks to women and babies. Inspectors highlighted a deep-rooted "blame culture" that made staff reluctant to raise concerns about incidents. Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and expressed hope that the inquiry would provide them with "answers." He stated the trust is "determined to do better" and is already taking significant steps to improve maternity and neonatal services following reviews by regulatory bodies.

Families affected by the failures have welcomed the inquiry but are calling for rigorous leadership, specifically requesting that midwife Donna Ockenden chair the investigation. Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after an inquest found multiple failures, emphasized the importance of ensuring the inquiry is "the best and most thorough that it can possibly be." She described how families have been "thrust into this life that none of us should be living," noting that their shared grief should never have brought them together under such circumstances.

Serious questions are now being raised about what Sir Julian Hartley, who led the trust for ten years until 2023 and now heads the Care Quality Commission, knew about the poor maternity care. In a statement, Sir Julian expressed being "truly sorry" for families' suffering and said that while he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity," this commitment "wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss." Lauren Caulfield, whose daughter Grace died in 2022, called it "completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date" to examine Sir Julian's role, expressing hope that the inquiry will address this gap.