ON THE RUN

A SECOND man has gone on the run from Ford Open Prison just days after fugitive killer Thomas Tangney escaped, the Argus can reveal today.

Andrew Nelson, 28, walked out of the prison yesterday afternoon.

He was serving three years and five months for theft and driving offences. He is believed to have links with Sussex and Buckinghamshire.

He was reported missing at 1.30pm following a 1pm roll call at the prison near Arundel.

The news came as a double blow for Sussex Police who are still hunting Tangney who escaped on Monday. They describe him as an extremely violent man and have warned the public not to approach him.

But they believe they are closing the net on Tangney, who they say is being harboured in Worthing.

Detectives said today they have received scores of calls after Tangney's picture was published in the Argus.

Two more sightings of the 49-year-old fugitive were reported in Worthing yesterday and police are following up other leads.

Sussex Police spokesman PC Chris Saunders said: "Following thereports in the newspaper and on the radio, we had a number of calls reported to us."

He said they received a call at 4.40pm from a man walking near the Swan Garage in Palatine Road who reported seeing Tangney.

And an Eastbourne man called police to say he saw Tangney on Worthing seafront at 6.45pm.

PC Saunders said: "This is very encouraging. We are also following up another possible lead. Ithink we will get him soon if he is in Worthing. It is going to be the public that find this man.

"This man has been institutionalised for years. He would have met people at Ford who would live in this area and he could be being harboured."

Tangney was sentenced to 99 years in jail in 1980 for blasting a pensioner to death with a shotgun.

The killer also admitted burgling former PM Margaret Thatcher's Chelsea home.

Since his escape, prison bosses have been severely criticised for sending him to a low-security jail.

John Dickeson, a Ford parish councillor, said: "This is becoming a farce. There is nothing there to keep them. It is too easy for them just to walk out."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.