Latest inmate absconds from jail

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Police are hunting a prisoner who has absconded from Hollesley Bay open prison in Suffolk.

Edward McDonagh is the latest of more than 130 inmates who have gone missing from the jail in the last five years, the BBC has revealed.

McDonagh, 34, who was serving four years and 11 months for theft of motor vehicles, was reported missing at 0010 GMT on Monday.

McDonagh is described as white, 5ft 9in tall, stocky, with a "ruddy face".

He has dark hair and speaks with a broad Irish accent. He is believed to have connections with Middlesex.

Low risk

Suffolk Police are advising anyone spotting McDonagh not to approach him but to alert officers immediately by calling 999.

A Freedom of Information request by BBC Look East has found that over the last five years 131 inmates of the open prison have absconded.

Most have been recaptured, but 12 are still at large.

The Ministry of Justice told the BBC that open prisons were "the most effective means of ensuring prisoners are tested in the community before they are released".

It said all those located in open conditions had been categorised as being of "low risk to the public".