Absconded NI prisoner recaptured

A potentially violent prisoner who was on the run for three days in Northern Ireland has been rearrested, police have said.

A potentially violent prisoner who was on the run for three days in Northern Ireland has been rearrested, police have said.

Remand inmate John George Kennedy Reid (38), absconded on Tuesday after being given compassionate leave to attend a funeral in the Whitehead area outside Belfast.

The incident is the latest embarrassment for the authorities north of the border, where 12 prisoners have gone missing this year alone - four in the last month.

The PSNI announced Mr Reid's rearrest only minutes after first releasing details of his disappearance. Describing the prisoner as potentially dangerous, they had warned the public not to approach him.

PA