Police hunting murderer who has run away from prison four times

One, two, three, four.

That is how many times a convicted murderer in Merseyside has escaped from prison.

We wish we were making this up but 44-year-old Arnold Pickering really did pull off his escape act.

Amazingly another prisoner, Thomas Moffet, 51, also escaped from an open prison in Blackburn, Lancashire. Thankfully for British police he was caught after a couple hours.

It was reported that they failed to return from the prison's day release on Saturday.

In the UK, towards the end of a prisoner's jail sentence, they may be "allowed to leave prison for short periods". A day release program allows prisoners to go out during the day so as to attend training courses that will hopefully allow them to get jobs when they are eventually released.

Pickering was convicted in 1990 for stabbing a man who has been falsely accused to be a paedophile, reported the Mirror.

The first time he fled from the clutches of the police was in 1991. He was recaptured in six hours, however, and back to wearing pajamas with black horizontal strips.

His second was in 2006, after he walked out from an "open prison".  (We would love someone to explain to us the concept of an "open prison" by the way.)

His third was in 2009, making the latest one his fourth.

Not the first escape this year

Apparently this isn't the first prison escape this year. Earlier this month, Michael Wheatley, 55, nicknamed Skull Cracker. He escaped from a different open prison in Kent.

The Guardian reported that Wheatley was caught after several hours - trying to raid a bank.

British police have warned the public not to approach the escapees should they be unlucky enough to cross paths.

Source: The Mirror, The Guardian.