The four-day manhunt cost more than �1m

Officers arrested 42-year-old Robert Boyer when armed police swooped more than three weeks after the vicious attack on Keith Frogson.

Boyer was living in a camouflaged shelter covered in bracken and foliage in a part of Sherwood Forest.

More than 600 officers were involved in the search for Boyer in August 2004.

'Gaunt and dishevelled'

Nottinghamshire Police Authority said later that the four-day manhunt, involving officers from eight forces across the country, had cost as much as �1m.

Police were also hunting for another suspect in an unrelated killing.

They arrested Terry Rodgers, who is now awaiting trial on charges of murdering his 23-year-old daughter, about 24 hours later in the same wood.

It seems he has been drinking water and eating tinned food cold and straight out of the can Nottinghamshire police Boyer pleads guilty to killing

Boyer admitted the manslaughter of former miner Mr Frogson at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

He was described as a loner who had been known to disappear to hunt wildlife and was finally captured looking "gaunt and dishevelled", police said.

Officers found the makeshift hideout dug into a hillside and waited for him to return, capturing him in the early hours of the morning.

Officers believed he had been using his knowledge of the area and survival techniques to live rough.

Det Ch Insp Russ Foster, of Notts police, said at the time of Boyer's capture: "Armed officers lay in wait for several hours. They moved in when Mr Boyer returned.

"He was taken to a police station and examined by a doctor, who found him fit and well. He was not dehydrated or hungry and was able to be interviewed.

"It seems he has been drinking water and eating tinned food cold and straight out of the can.

"Because he has been missing for a month, there is a possibility he could have been into local shops or towns to buy provisions."

The search, named Operation Rendition, involved 30 sniffer dogs and two helicopters with heat-seeking equipment, with officers who scoured more than 1.5 acres of woodland for the two men.