'Black Dog Strangler': Escaped Killer Found

Police have found convicted killer Phillip Westwater who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Newcastle on Wednesday morning.

It is understood a member of the public informed Northumbria Police after recognising the 44-year-old from a circulated photo.

Westwater - dubbed the "Black Dog Strangler" - has been taken back to the secure unit at St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth.

He was being escorted from his ward to a restaurant in a separate building - within the hospital site - when he went missing.

He asked to go to the toilet and changed his clothes before making off at 10am on Wednesday morning.

Westwater is being detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

In 1989 he attacked a man with a piece of glass in a pub fight, leaving him paralysed for life.

The following year he strangled fellow patient Derek Williams at Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool with his dressing gown cord.

Westwater admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, having become convinced his victim had turned into a black dog.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said on Wednesday: "The missing man has been located safe and well in the Newcastle area.

"Officers will be taking him back to the secure unit at St Nicholas's Hospital.

"A call was made by a member of the public who contacted police after recognising a photo of Phillip."