Topen escaped while receiving "serious treatment" in hospital

Gordon Topen, 33, had served 12 years of a life sentence for murder when he fled from Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry on Friday.

Police are warning the public not to approach the prisoner, who is said to have a violent temperament.

He is white, about 6ft 6in, of stocky build with short greyish hair.

Topen, who was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and blue jogging trousers, made his escape at around 1700 BST on Friday.

The prison service does regret what has happened and an investigation will be carried out Chief Superintendent Steve Dugmore

Detectives are interviewing guards and inmates at Rye Hill Prison, near Rugby, in Warwickshire, and are searching his cell for any clues as to where he may be hiding.

It is the third escape in three years from the custody of the prison.

Topen, from Fulham, in London, killed a man in 1992 who he suspected was having an affair with his partner.

He had been at the Coventry Hospital since Wednesday and was having a blood transfusion.

Prison guidelines dictate that he had to be handcuffed but somehow he got away from two custody officers.

Topen escaped from the hospital without injuring anyone

Theatre nurse Gareth Morgan told BBC Midlands Today: "It shouldn't happen and perhaps the people responsible should be disciplined or even sacked."

Chief Superintendent Steve Dugmore from West Midlands Police described Topen as "extremely violent" and advised the public not to approach him but to call 999 immediately.

"This man was in hospital, not in the custody of the police but of the prison service, Group 4," he said.

"We haven't got a complete picture of what happened but the prison service does regret what has happened and an investigation will be carried out."

Mr Dugmore said Topen escaped from the hospital without injuring anyone.

Conservative MP for Daventry Tim Boswell said: "There has got to be a system whereby if errors on the part of the private contractors result in this kind of thing happening then equally they can be met with some additional costs."