Daniels crime clan boss' son jailed after capture in Norway following global manhunt

Zander Sutherland boarded a plane to Spain when he was supposed to be getting a bus back to Castle Huntly jail.

A notorious gangland figure toured several countries while spending months on the run after being granted home leave from a Scottish prison.

Drug baron Alexander Sutherland was boarding a plane to Spain via Ireland while he was supposed to be getting a bus back to Castle Huntly jail near Dundee.

A court heard how an "extraordinary event" took place which forced Sutherland to flee Scotland as he feared his life was in real danger.

Sutherland - son of late crime boss Jamie Daniel - spent two months in hiding abroad before he was eventually arrested by the authorities in Norway.

The 36-year-old was extradited back to the UK shortly before Christmas and has now appeared in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court to admit absconding.

Sutherland, now sporting a greying beard, admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice by failing to return to Castle Huntly after a home leave on 11 April 2024.

The court was told that Sutherland, who was jailed for 13 and a half years in 2015 for heroin dealing, had already been allowed home leave on more than a dozen occasions.

Fiscal depute Emma Farmer said organised crime kingpin Sutherland - known as Zander - was transferred to the open prison at Castle Huntly on 25 April 2023.

She said: "From 24 May to November 2023 he was granted leave to a Liverpool address, and from then onwards to a Glasgow address. There were 14 periods of home leave prior to this."

Sutherland was given a week at home in Glasgow, but an alert was raised by prison chiefs when he failed to return as scheduled on 11 April last year.

"Staff reported him missing to police. They attended the named address, but it was in darkness. It is approximately 500 metres from St George's Cross underground station.

"CCTV footage showed him going around Glasgow on the train to Buchanan Street bus station and then getting in a taxi. Glasgow Airport CCTV showed him going through passport control. He got a flight to Ireland and then on to Spain at 9pm.

"He was arrested in Norway and extradited from there on 4 December 2024." Counsel Tony Lenehan KC, defending, told the court: "He was in a trusted position and had made 14 home leave visits without incident.

"It was on the fifteenth when there was an event which potentially represented a very serious attack upon his person and made him think about his safety and have thoughts about hiding himself away.

"He contacted the prison to try and find a way to make things right, but because he had been reported as failing to return they couldn't do anything.

"No-one understands better than him the mistakes he made. It was not intended to be so, but events overtook him and there was this extraordinary event.

"This wasn't highly planned or sought. He has been punished each and every day since. He was eventually arrested, held in custody and returned to this country.

"Since June 24 he has been held in Norway in conditions of isolation, partly because of his status as a foreign national. He has the prospect of spending every day until 9 January 2026 in segregation as well.

"It has been compounded by the fact he has been moved from prison to prison. He was in Grampian, is currently in Barlinnie and his next stop is unclear.

"He hasn't gained a single hour of freedom as the time spent unlawfully at large will be added to his sentence, so he will serve every minute he was away.

"Every day will be double the punishment it might have been. All the things he achieved and the progress he made on a long prison sentence have gone for him."

Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC imposed a ten-month concurrent sentence on Sutherland and told him: "I will take into account the segregation you have suffered now and since you absconded.

"These were very foolish actions on your part after an otherwise successful period in open conditions. I will take into account your attempt to arrange your own return."