On the run for four days

A CONVICTED murderer who was jailed for life went on the run for four days while on day-release from prison.

Arnold Pickering, formerly of Henley Street, Chadderton, fled while taking part in a controversial scheme that allows prisoners to work as binmen.

The 42-year-old travelled all the way to Scotland before handing himself in at a police station in Motherwell yesterday.

In 1991, Pickering was jailed for life for stabbing to death Thomas Leigh (53), from Holts, and given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 18 years.

He first fled police custody while on remand awaiting the trial when he escaped from Manchester’s Strangeways Prison exercise yard, but was recaptured after six hours.

Pickering was one of eight prisoners on a scheme run by the Prison Service with Enterprise Manchester which empties bins for Manchester Council.

The first two offenders were taken on in July with the other six brought in a month ago.

The inmates from Kirkham Prison, a category D open men’s jail near Preston, are all nearing the end of their sentence.

They were being bussed in to Manchester city centre to work and then left to make their own way back to the prison.

Pickering turned up for work at a bin depot in Gorton but did not return to prison that night.

He has now been moved to a closed prison.

The inmates are currently on a six-month probationary period earning “a slightly lower” salary than other full-time staff.

Both Enterprise Manchester and the council have asked the Prison Service to urgently review the scheme following Pickering’s disappearance.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “Protecting the public is our top priority. Prisoners are only released on temporary license if they have passed a risk assessment.

“If they breach that licence in any way, they will be subject to disciplinary proceedings and are likely to be moved to a higher category of prison.”