A violent sex offender is being hunted by police after disappearing from an open prison.

Brian Travers, a 43-year-old prisoner at Castle Huntly, was reported missing at 10am on Friday, July 8.

Travers was jailed for seven years in 1997 for a sex attack on a 20-year-old student in an Edinburgh Park.

He was returned to prison for stealing more than £11,000 from a hotel where he worked while out on licence, and failing to inform his employer he was on the sex offenders register.

Members of the public are being warned not to approach Travers, who is believed to have connections in Fife and Edinburgh.

He is described as being 6ft, of slim build, clean shaven and completely bald.

Anyone who may have seen Travers, or know where might be, is being asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.