Video: The Scot who wants to bring bounty hunting from the US to Britain

Christian Matlock, a one-time teenage tearaway, swapped his home town of Brechin in Angus for Virginia seven years ago to find his American father and ended up as a bail enforcement agent, bringing to the courts some of America's most wanted.

And he says the same bail bond system that exists in the US should be established in his home country, to save taxpayers money and to give police more time chasing criminals.

The Scot, who once came close to being killed in the line-of-duty four years ago, says helping to be involved in such a bail bond system in Scotland would be the only reason for him to return to his homeland.

In most US states - apart from in murder cases - suspects are freed from custody on the posting of a bail bond.

When the bail bond is issued, the accused promises to appear in court at a particular time and place.

The bail bond system in the US differs from the Scottish system in that money rarely changes hands as a surety for bail, and after granted by the court it is then left to the police to find fugitives.

In the US, bonds are often provided by a bail bondsman who effectively gamble on the defendant turning up at court.

A premium of around 10 per cent is charged for each bond, which is where the bail bond firms make their profits.

If the defendant goes missing the bondsman stands to lose his money, which is where bounty hunters like Mr Matlock come in and they are given the task of apprehending the no-shows.

Mr Matlock who is now the focus of The Scottish Bounty Hunter, a new BBC Scotland documentary airing on Monday said: "I don't think I am needed in Scotland. I don't think there is anything there for me.

"But if Scotland had bounty hunters, I'd be back there in a heartbeat. They should start one and I'll run it."

The heavily-tattooed 28-year-old who carries a Smith and Wesson pistol on the job and a Mossberg 500 12 gauge shotgun in his car for protection added: "It's an area where the taxpayer in general could save money, because at the moment it is the police whose time is wasted chasing all these people that don't show up.

"We take some strain off the police, because we are finding the people they can't. "It [a bail bond scheme] could save the police time. And they like it here because it saves tax money.

"We are not funded by anyone other that bondsmen. I have no government, state or city funding for my business. I arrest people and it's all with my money."

The former Brechin High School pupil admits he had been a troublesome teenager, a all-day party lover with a taste for drink and ecstasy and described himself as a "not very productive member of society".

The one-time bouncer, who was a fan of Sky’s reality TV show Dog The Bounty Hunter, says he would also like to run a one-off youth project in Scotland to help others like him "who have slightly fallen off the track and need a push".

"[Seven years ago] something in me snapped, and I thought, I can be more than this, and I needed a push and I had nobody to push me by myself.

"I feel if I can make the changes in my life and be there to support myself and do everything I've done, then maybe I can help people and there's nobody else I would rather help than those back in Scotland," he said.

He admits that despite the dangers of the job, and a brush with being killed, he does not always wear his bulletproof vest.

"I was told I could die doing the job but it is not something that I worry about to be honest with you," said Mr Matlock, who has branched out from becoming a bounty hunter, to becoming the boss as a bail bondsman.

"Sometimes all I have is the handcuffs in my pocket. It depends on where I am going, what I am doing and what situation I am in," he said.

"There's really just some places that I can't go in looking like a bounty hunter, because everybody will know who I am and why I'm there and it ruins the entire operation, so there's some situations where I am forced to go in there just dressed like a normal person. And hope it works out for the best."

That view hasn't change after being shot at four years ago when picking up another court no-show.

"I got shot at and the funny thing was that I don't think it was the person that I was picking up that was shooting at me. I think it was just the area we were in, where people were not really too fond of folk in authority. Shots were fired and fortunately I wasn't hit. I've been really lucky that I haven't had to use my weapon."

His mother Lesley who still lives in Brechin is pleased with his son's progress, saying: "I am just glad he left here because he was beginning to get drunk and get in trouble with the police...and just hanging around with the wrong people.

"Brechin doesn't have a lot going for it really, there's not a lot of work... it's just some place to sleep, now."