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 Thorncross Young Offenders' Institution in Warrington, 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 in August, for burglary and breaching a suspended term.

Daniel Thomas, for Royal, said his very close friend Christopher Roberts had been a passenger in a car when it hit a wall.

He had died instantly leaving his girlfriend and four children.

Mr Roberts and the pair spent a lot of time together when Royal wasn’t in custody.