Carl Currey: Fled as he was due for parole

Carl Currey, 37, an inmate at Channings Wood Prison, near Newton Abbot in Devon, absconded after the prison officer guard left him alone.

Currey, 37, from the Surrey area, was due for parole after being convicted in 2000 of wounding with intent.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said that he was not handcuffed when he went missing at about 1040 GMT on Monday.

Surrey checks

The alarm was raised as soon as he disappeared and Devon and Cornwall Police launched a search immediately.

Police spokesman Pc Baxter Provan said: "We called in officers from around the city, including traffic units and a dog handler, to carry out a search of the aquarium and around the Barbican area.

"But by the time the officers got there, it looked likely that he was well on his way."

Police in Surrey are making checks because they think he may have headed home.

The Prison Service spokeswoman said day visits were a routine occurrence when inmates were coming to the end of their sentence.

She said it was a way of rehabilitating them and helping them become accustomed to the outside world again.

She said such visits were "thoroughly risk assessed."