A PRISONER walked out of an open jail to go to the funeral of his best friend who had been killed in a road smash, a court heard.

Michael Royal, 20, left Thorn Cross Young Offenders' Institution with another inmate by climbing over the low perimeter fence. He was free for less than 16 hours and never made the funeral, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Royal, of Sedburgh Street, Burnley, admitted escape on February 9. He was given eight months custody, to be served consecutively to the 18 months he received last August, for burglary and breaching a suspended term.

Judge Beverley Lunt told him he had a very bad record. She said he had been transferred to the open facility only five months into the 18 month term and two weeks later escaped. The judge said the new sentence had to punish the defendant and added:" There has to be a deterrent."

Daniel Thomas, for Royal, said: "He tells me if his mate hadn't died, he would never have left the prison."