Police are searching for a convicted robber who escaped from an open prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Michael Dunn, 53, absconded from HMP Standford Hill without permission at around 8.55am on Saturday, Kent Police reported.
He was sentenced to six years and four months in September 2023 after admitting to robbery offenses in Maidstone.
Mr. Dunn was last seen wearing a grey hoodie, dark bottoms, black trainers, a black hat, and a scarf, according to the authorities.
Law enforcement officers are pursuing various leads to locate him and are seeking the public’s help.
Following the escape of three prisoners from HMP Leyhill in South Gloucestershire on New Year’s Day, they have since been apprehended.
In November, it was announced that HMP Standford Hill will be expanded as part of the government’s initiative to create an additional 14,000 prison spaces.
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Mark Drury, a current governor, cautioned in November last year that public safety is «at risk» due to the increasing number of inmates being sent to prisons with minimal security.
Speaking in his capacity as the representative for open prison governors at the Prison Governors’ Association, he informed Sky News that open prisons which had not experienced any escapes for «many years» are now suddenly seeing a rise in such incidents.
The Ministry of Justice has not yet released more recent data, but there were 57 absconders in the year ending March 2025, with 15 of them still at large after 30 days.