A MURDERER and a man convicted of a serious assault on a police officer have both been found after absconding from Leyhill open prison.

In two separate incidents this week, the men disappeared before being caught by police at opposite ends of the country.

Stanley Dunn, 59, was arrested by British Transport Police at Glasgow train station on Friday, January 19, after having last been seen leaving Kings Vinegars in Iron Acton where he was on a work placement the day before. He was thought to be heading in the direction of Yate train station on the Thursday morning and was on the run for more than 24 hours.

Dunn is serving a life sentence for the murder of Sheila Harries in Plymouth whose body was found in his garden. He was convicted in 1976 and had already served 30 years in prison.

Joseph (Joe) Butler, 29, was arrested by police in Chichester late Monday night after having absconded from the prison on the evening of Saturday, January 20. Authorities were first alerted to his absence from a 8.30pm roll call and after a two-day search, successfully tracked him down and handed him over to the prison authorities.

Butler was convicted in 2003 of serious assault on a police officer and sentenced to ten years in prison and banned from driving for ten years after travelling along the M11 at speeds up to 80mph with PC Geoffrey Poyser still clinging to the door.

A Home Office prison spokesman confirmed that both men would now be returned to closed conditions having shown that they can't be trusted in the open prison system.

The spokesman said: "The nature of open prisons means that we can never guarantee that prisoners will not abscond, but the number of those who do, in relation to the prison population, is now at its lowest level for ten years.

"All those located in open conditions have been rigorously risk assessed and categorised as being of low risk to the public.

"All absconds are immediately reported to the police and absconders can be criminally charged and a number of prisoners have received additional custodial sentences.

"Public protection is paramount and prisoners are returned to closed conditions if our risk assessments indicate likely non compliance."

Almost four hundred prisoners have absconded from Leyhill since 1999.