Mental patient sorry for frightening people after he had escaped
O'Rourke, 35, who is also known as Terry Powell, told the Echo that he would never hurt anybody and knew it had been wrong to flee the secure unit to visit the graves of his loved ones.
Concerns have been raised about how easy it was to escape from Langdon after O'Rourke and paranoid schizophrenic Jason Lord, 23, climbed on to the hospital's roof, scaled a perimeter fence and walked out of a gate that was being installed as part of improvements being made to the unit.
The pair escaped from the medium security Butler Clinic on Tuesday last week and were captured on Wednesday night in Newlyn in Cornwall.
Now back in the unit, O'Rourke, who also has schizophrenia, said he had been desperate to visit his son's grave, as he has done every year since he died.
He also wanted to visit his sister's grave, which he claims has recently been desecrated.
"I'm so sorry for what I've done. I could have possibly dealt with it another way. I just felt I was letting my boy and my sister down," he said.
"I want to apologise to anybody around here if they felt in fear of me. I'm not an angel and what I did was wrong but I wouldn't have hurt anybody.
"I planted a tree for my son here at Langdon but it didn't help and I felt so empty because I wasn't there at his graveside."
O'Rourke admitted he had never properly grieved for his son, Taigan who, he says, died in a fire on August 8, 2000.
O'Rourke, who has previous convictions for dealing heroin, said he had arrived in Langdon in December 2007 after being caught stealing scrap metal from houses.
He also claims he used to be an intravenous drug user, but had not had any drugs for eight months and tests had confirmed he had not taken the chance to shoot up while on the run.
He said: "In coming to Langdon, I started grieving for my little boy, which I realise I hadn't done. I was also grieving for my little sister Tazmin who was 24 when she died of a heroin overdose.
"I wanted to tend my sister's grave as I was told someone had taken away the dream catchers and fairies decorating it. I promised her on her death bed that I would look after her in death as in life."
After escaping from Langdon, O'Rourke said he and Lord hitched a lift to St Austell, took a train to Truro and walked six miles before catching a bus to Swanpool, Falmouth, where they tended Taigan's grave.
O'Rourke and Lord then walked to Newlyn, near Penzance.
He hoped to visit a pit bull terrier, Gentle Bear, which he claimed he rescued from life as a fighting dog.
"We were yards away from seeing Gentle Bear when a police car pulled up 100 yards away," he said.
"We could have fled but we didn't. We walked to the police car, sat down and said we wouldn't be trouble.
"My (foster) sister brought Bear out and gave me a hug. The police were good with me.
"They put Jason in handcuffs and whipped him off but they let me stop and tend to the dog briefly.
"I had brought my solicitor's number. I was going to call him the next day to hand myself in.
"I know it was the wrong thing to do and I know I've set myself back but in my heart I felt relieved."
Devon Partnership Trust said that security at Langdon was important and new measures were now in operation.
The trust is investing £200,000 in upgrading security at the site, which includes improvements to the perimeter fencing.
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