More than 660 Sudbury inmates have absconded in 10 years

Duncan MacNeil, 41, and Paul Michael Neale, 50, were reported missing from Sudbury Open Prison on Wednesday.

MacNeil from London was jailed for life in 1982. Neale was sentenced to life imprisonment in Bristol in 1983 for a murder in Wiltshire.

On Sunday, Gary Smith, 41, from Liverpool, convicted of manslaughter in 2002, failed to return to the prison after temporary release.

Re-offending rates cut

MacNeil is described as white, 5ft 8in (1.72m) tall with short brown hair and blue eyes.

Neale, whose last known address was in Wiltshire, is white, 5ft 10in (1.77m) and has short brown hair and brown eyes.

A spokesperson from the Prison Service said open prisons, which house prisoners who have a small part of their sentence remaining, have successfully cut re-offending rates.

Prisoners are free to go in and out of the jails but must attend regular roll calls.

More than 660 inmates have gone missing from Sudbury in the past 10 years.