Rapist caught after escape from prison
A CONVICTED rapist who escaped from an open prison has been arrested.
Stuart O’Neill, who is originally from Salford, forced open a door and absconded from HMP Leyhill alongside fellow inmate John-Paul Knowlson on Wednesday.
Police launched an urgent appeal for help to find the pair and released images of them.
Avon and Somerset Police said both of the absconders were arrested yesterday.
Officers swooped in and arrested the prisoners in Patchyway, Bristol.
They remain in custody.
O’Neill, 29, raped a vulnerable teenage girl in Wythenshawe and was jailed in 2009.
He was convicted of rape, burglary and theft offences following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Fellow absconder Knowlson, of Bristol, was convicted of rape in 2011 and transferred to HMP Leyhill last September.
Both men were serving indeterminate prison sentences for their crimes.
A statement from Avon and Somerset Police said: “We are no longer looking for the two absconders from HMP Leyhill.
“John-Paul Knowlson and Stuart O’Neill were both arrested in Patchway this morning and are now in custody.
“Thank you to all those who shared our appeal for information.”