Violent lags including killers and rapists escaping from open prisons every week
VIOLENT lags including killers and rapists are going on the run from Britain’s open prisons almost every week.
Only last month a man who raped and killed a woman after going on the run from prison in the 1990s absconded from an open jail in Gloucestershire.
Luckily, Keith Whitehouse, 56, was caught within a few hours and returned to HMP Leyhill in Gloucester.
Figures obtained by The Sun on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws show 16 fled in just three months last year.
Those who escaped in January to March included convicted rapist Anthony McCormick, 53, who walked out of Leyhill.
He was later caught but six others were still free at the end of April.
In November, a hammer killer, a drug-dealer and burglar all escaped from Spring Hill in the space of a week.
Nicholas Redding, who beat a neighbour to death in 1994, was among the three who absconded from the Aylesbury jail.
Redding, who tied his victim to a chair, battered him with a hammer and slashed his throat with a saw, was caught more than three weeks later.
Drug dealer James Vaughan and aggravated burglar Barry Anderson were also recaptured.
Figures for the rest of last year are set to be released in July.
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A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Less than two per cent of offenders abscond from open prison, and the overall number of absconds has halved since 2011/12.
“But whilst absconds are rare, we are not complacent and carefully risk assess all offenders before they move to open prisons.
“Those who do abscond are returned to much tougher, closed prisons where they will have to serve additional time.”
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