Police hunt for prison absconders

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Derbyshire Police are continuing to hunt a murderer and two men convicted of drug offences who absconded from an open prison.

Killer Daniel Driscoll, 33, failed to return to HMP Sudbury on Saturday after being let out on temporary release.

Lee Mulholland, 28, who was serving five years for drug offences, walked out on Friday.

Andre Hackett, serving four years for possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply, failed to return on Saturday.

Sentence reduced

Derbyshire Police have urged people not to approach the men.

Driscoll, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was jailed for life in 1992 aged 18, along with Anthony Coughtrey, then 19, after being convicted of stamping and kicking William Walsh, a 19-year-old father-of-three, to death.

He was ordered to spend a minimum of 15 years behind bars but in 1998 this was reduced to 13 years.

He is described as white, 5ft 3in, with short brown hair and blue eyes.

'Public protection'

Andre Hackett, 33, of Slough, Berkshire, was serving a four year sentence for dealing crack cocaine and heroin. He is white, 5ft 8in tall, with short black hair and brown eyes.

Mulholland - who police said may also use the surname Weston - started his five-year sentence for drugs offences last November.

He is from Liverpool and is described as white, 6ft tall, with cropped brown hair and brown eyes.

More than 660 inmates have walked out of Sudbury prison in the past 10 years.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "The number of absconders from prisons is at its lowest level in the last 10 years, despite an increasing population.

"Public protection is paramount and all prisoners located in open conditions have been rigorously risk-assessed."