Dozens of violent offenders have walked free from a Sussex jail, The Argus can reveal.

Two killers are among the prisoners to walk out of Ford Prison, near Arundel, since January 2007.

Burglars, robbers, an illegal immigrant and violent thugs have also absconded.

The escape of murderer Andrew McVicar, 24, and another man convicted of manslaughter, are the most serious breaches of security at the jail.

McVicar killed a boy by stabbing him in the neck with a beer bottle in 1998 when he was aged 15. He was convicted in 1999.

McVicar was recaptured in nearby Littlehampton the day he escaped.

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said: "Despite all the publicity about poor security at Ford, prisoners continue to walk out of the jail at the rate of one a week.

"The Government doesn't seem to think it matters much that robbers, burglars and murderers can decide for themselves whether or not to remain in prisons like Ford.

"I think the public will take a different view."

A total of 13 burglars escaped from Ford between January 2007 and February 2008.

There were also five robbers who absconded, seven prisoners convicted of drug offences, six thieves, two men convicted of wounding and one of assault.

It is the first time The Argus has been given a list of the types of offenders who have absconded from Ford.

However, the overall absconding rate at open prisons is said to be at its lowest for ten years per head of the prison population.

Rates have also dropped at Ford.

Governor Fiona Radford defended her jail, pointing to figures which show the rate for absconding has dropped every year since 2003.

From April 2006 to April 2007 a total of 61 prisoners absconded from Ford, compared with 55 between January 2007 and February 2008.

Do you live near Ford? Are you worried about prisoners absconding?