Jeremy Brabrooke: Murderer on run from open prison spotted in church

A convicted murderer who has been on the run from an open prison for more than five days has been spotted at a church in Hampshire.

Jeremy Brabrooke has been on the run since he absconded from Ford Prison in West Sussex last Wednesday.

Sussex Police have now released security camera footage of the last time he was sighted later that day on a visit St Faith’s Church in Havant, Hampshire.

The 56-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 after he was convicted of a murder in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

He had however been serving his sentence at Ford, an open prison for inmates deemed trusted enough not to attempt an escape.

A spokesperson for the Prison Service said: “These incidents are rare and nearly all are returned to custody very quickly, where they face more time behind bars. We are working closely with the police to recapture the individual.”

Brabrooke is said to have links to the Hayling Island and Portsmouth areas in Hampshire. Police have advised anyone who may have information on his whereabouts to call 999.

The number of inmates either escaping or absconding from prisons in England and Wales has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years.

More than 30 escapees and 1,100 absconders were recorded by the Prison Service between April 1996 and April 1997, compared to just 4 escapes and 86 absconds made in 2016/17.

In 2014, Sussex Police revealed almost 90 inmates, including several violent criminals, were on the run after absconding from Ford Prison.

Among those missing was convicted murderer Robert Donovan, who has never been apprehended by authorities since going missing from the unit in 2010.