‘I was so worried about Covid I had to escape’

A convicted burglar claimed he absconded from an open prison because he was worried about his family during the coronavirus pandemic, a court heard. Tom Scott, 23, was serving an eight year sentence for multiple house raids at HMP Hollesley Bay near Woodbridge, Suffolk, when he went on the run in January. Scott walked out of the front gate and took a day trip to see his family before handing himself in at the prison two days later, Snaresbrook Crown…