A man who lied in court about his involvement in the disappearance of a Highbridge mother and her three-year-old son has been released from jail.
Andrew Butt was jailed for contempt of court last week after lying about the whereabouts of Rebecca Minnock, pictured right.
She fled with her son Ethan to avoid a ruling that he should live with his father but handed herself in to police on Friday.
The judge said the sentence was “richly deserved” but he accepted Butt’s apology and released him from prison.
Butt, 56, was sentenced to 28 days in jail last Friday. He is the partner of Ms Minnock’s mother, Louise Minnock.
He had lied in court about his role in driving Ms Minnock and her son Ethan from Highbridge to Cheltenham on 27th May, the same day that a family court had ruled Ethan should live with his father, Roger Williams.
Butt’s barrister told Bristol Crown Court her client was “deeply sorry” for his actions and said he “apologised profusely for his ill thought out actions”.
She asked Judge Stephen Wildblood QC to release him early because “he has learned his lesson”.
Judge Wildblood told Butt he had disgraced himself in public by lying to the police and the court and had “wasted a considerable amount of public money”.
