PRISONERS ESCAPE FROM OPEN JAIL

Simon Rhodes-Butler, 37

Yet another violent prisoner is on the run today after escaping from a notorious open jail.
Simon Rhodes-Butler, 37, who was jailed for seven years after he and an accomplice attacked a garage owner and stole his Rolex watch, is the second inmate in a matter of weeks to abscond from Ford Open Prison in Arundel, West Sussex.
Police have launched a major manhunt and warned the public not to approach Rhodes-Butler, who has now been missing for a week.


After Rhodes-Butler was convicted of robbery at Croydon Crown Court in 2011, he was transferred to Ford Open Prison, from where he went missing on 22 May.
The owner of the garage targetted by Rhodes-Butler and his accomplice, Ilyas Ismail, said at their trial that he feared for his life after the pair walked in and dragged him to the ground before ripping his watch off his wrist.

A police spokesman said that Rhodes-Butler, who is originally from Tottenham, north London, has family and friends in the London area and may be there.

Sussex Police also appealed for the public’s help in finding violent raider Kevin Brown, 54, who disappeared from Ford Prison last month.
He was serving a life sentence imposed at the Old Bailey in 2007 for conspiracy to rob and firearms offences.


The manhunt for Rhodes-Butler was launched a day after Michael Wheatley, the serial armed robber known as the skullcracker, admitted holding up the Chelsea Building Society in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, four days after absconding from an open prison in Kent.


Yesterday, Wheatley was handed his 14th life sentence at Guildford Crown Court.
PC Steve Reed said: 'We have been looking for Rhodes-Butler for a week but without success so far.
'We need to speak to anyone who might have an idea where he could be or where he has been staying.  If you have any information please contact us.'

Lewis Powter, 30, up, and Paul Oddysses, 49, down, are both on the run from an open prison in Suffolk