Mike Inglis was speaking at a public meeting, attended by over 100 people, hosted by the Kirriemuir Landward East Community Council in the Memus Community Hall.

It was organised after it emerged Thomas McCulloch had been transferred from the ‘closed estate’ to Noranside, between Forfar and Brechin, as part of his preparation for release on licence.

McCulloch was first detained in 1970 for shooting two staff at a Renfrewshire hotel and later found further notoriety when he and Dundee killer Robert Mone brutally killed a fellow patient, a nurse and a police officer in an escape from the State Mental Hospital at Carstairs.

Due to confidentiality issues, McCulloch’s name was not mentioned during the sometimes heated gathering, being referred to simply as “this individual” or “this gentleman”.

Mr Inglis said all “lifers” were entitled to be considered for parole and release at some point and the recently arrived inmate at Noranside fell into that category.

So far, the individual under discussion had been working inside the prison boundaries but once it was considered appropriate, he would be allowed greater freedom.

Mr Inglis sought to assure those at the meeting the decision to transfer any long-term prisoner from the closed to the open estate would only be taken after an exhaustive series of checks and tests had been carried out to assess the individual’s suitability.

He said the lessons learned in the aftermath of the case of Robert Foye — who attacked and raped a 16-year-old girl while on the run from Castle Huntly, near Longforgan, in 2007 — meant fewer prisoners were being transferred to open prisons and checks were far more stringent.

Mr Inglis said the small number who did not comply with the terms of their admission to the open estate were more likely to fail to return from home leave than abscond from the institutions themselves.

He also revealed that, even before being transferred to the open estate, all prisoners would already have been “tested” by being allowed some restricted access to the outside community.

In response to concerns expressed by local people, he added, “This individual will have gone through all the same procedures that any other prisoner would be required to go through and senior professional people will have taken the decision that he is ready to move on to the open estate.

“I cannot give a 100%, cast iron guarantee any individual will comply with all the rules, but I can 100% guarantee my staff and I will do our jobs to the best of our professional abilities.”

Mr Inglis continued, “I put 85 prisoners out on home leave every week and 80 out to work every day.

“Depending on the stage of their preparation for release, prisoners can be allowed out for as little as a day or overnight, or from Wednesday to Wednesday, during which time they will visit their families and liaise with employment agencies and criminal justice services.

“I had 212 prisoners home at Christmas and 212 who came back.”

A member of the audience presented Mr Inglis with a “worst case scenario” in which “an individual”, who had committed violent crimes and who had spent time in Carstairs, was now regarded a “good boy” and was transferred to an open prison where one day “something clicked” and he walked out and embarked on a killing spree.

Mr Inglis responded, “Can I give you a guarantee that what you have described in all its horrific detail will not happen?

“The answer is no, I can’t, no more than I can guarantee any member of any community might not act in such a manner.”