Open jail absconder is arrested

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A murderer who absconded from Sudbury Open Prison in Derbyshire last year has been arrested by police in Manchester.

Jason Croft, 28, from Salford, absconded in October. He was arrested in Middleton on Thursday on suspicion of escaping from lawful custody.

A second murderer, Michael Nixon, also 28, of Blackley, Manchester, who knew Croft and absconded from the jail two days later, is still at large.

A row broke out a few weeks ago over the release of their photos by police.

Derbyshire Police denied they had refused to release the pictures because it would enfringe their human rights.

They said releasing the photos did not serve local policing purposes because the prisoners were not in the area. The two photos were later issued by Greater Manchester Police.

Police searching

Both men were approaching the end of life sentences for murder, given in 1996, and had been given day release and home visits before they absconded.

A 38-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of harbouring an offender.

Croft and the woman, who has not been named, were in police custody.

Police are still looking for Michael Nixon.

The arrest comes after another prisoner who absconded from the jail on Monday handed himself in to police on Wednesday. Gary Conrad Ward, from Wolverhampton, was serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for burglary.

After police released details of his disappearance, the 38-year-old handed himself in to police in Birmingham.

Ward's disappearance brought the total number of reported absconders from Sudbury to 24 since October 2006.