A MAN who assaulted a police officer was let out of Greenock Prison by mistake.

The yob, who can't be named for legal reasons, was released by the jail in error on January 26 last year.

The mistake came to light as part of a freedom of information request by the Conservative party.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “Every year approximately 30,000 warrants are processed and 10,000 convicted prisoners are released from custody.

“Whilst we are never complacent, the statistics show that these errors represent a very small proportion.

“All liberations in error are reviewed internally.”