A PRISONER has been tracked down and arrested after the he went on the run on Friday afternoon.

Richard Hanson is back in police custody after he absconded from HMP Thorn Cross, an open prison in Cheshire.

The 35-year-old was jailed for life for killing teenager Gemma Roberts by slashing her throat with a broken bottle back in 2006 in Liversedge.

He admitted the manslaughter of 18-year-old Gemma on grounds of diminished responsibility when he appeared before Leeds Crown Court.

Prosecutor James Goss QC said Hanson, who had displayed psychotic behaviour since he was aged three, attacked Gemma, a total stranger to him, as he walked past her in Holme Street, Liversedge.

Hanson was last seen at the Appleton Thorn open prison on Friday at 1.40pm. A police appeal was launched to find him with the public urged not to approach him.

Gemma’s sister Leanne Roberts, 38, from Batley, spoke of the moment she and her family received the news he had escaped.

She said: “I felt sick, sick to my stomach. My mum has done nothing but cry.”

She described it as being “like a kick in the teeth” and spoke of how it had taken a huge toll on her mother.

“It’s taken too much out of her,” she said.

“It’s been 15 years, it’s three weeks off her anniversary. It’s quite a big anniversary, we’ve just had her [Gemma’s] birthday in August, then this, it’s not a good time for us anyway,” she said.

On top of the distress and fear caused by news of his escape, Leanne said the family were not made aware he was in an open prison.

She said: “It’s just brought everything back, everything is really fresh.

“It’s made it feel as if it’s yesterday.”

Speaking following the news Hanson had been found, Leanne said she was “relieved” but added: “It’s caused us that unnecessary stress, which we did not need.

"He should be in high security, I think he should never be allowed out.

"It just shows, he’s got no compassion for us or for anyone.”