Jeremy Brabrooke: Absconded murderer arrested after five days

Brabrooke was seen at the church on 16 November

A convicted murderer who absconded from an open prison has been arrested after five days on the run.

Jeremy Brabrooke, 56, went missing from HMP Ford, near Littlehampton, West Sussex, on 14 November, sparking a major police hunt.

He was arrested in Hampshire on Monday, and is now back in custody.

Brabrooke, who stabbed a 59-year-old woman to death in Bingley, West Yorkshire, in 1987, had been spotted in a church in Havant on 16 November.

The arrest was made in Hayling Island shortly after police released CCTV images of Brabrooke at St Faith's Church.

Jeremy Brabrooke absconded on 14 November

According to the archives of the local paper, the Telegraph and Argus, Brabrooke was found guilty of killing Doris Whitaker at her home in Ayrton Crescent on 2 September 1987.

His victim, who was stabbed nine times, was described as a "highly-respected churchgoer".

He entered a not-guilty plea, but was convicted at Leeds Crown Court in July 1988.

Brabrooke, who was 26 at the time and working as a gardener, was given a life sentence.

Mr Justice McKinnon, passing sentence, told Brabrooke that he had been convicted of a "horrible and senseless murder of a well-liked and wholly innocent woman of 59 who was a complete stranger to you".