A convicted murderer is the latest prisoner to go missing from a controversial open jail.

David Robert Chapman, 55, failed to return to HMP Sudbury, in Derbyshire, on Tuesday, police said today.

Chapman was sentenced to life at the Old Bailey in October 1983 for murder and is the sixth convicted killer to disappear from the category D jail since October last year. More than 660 inmates have gone missing from Sudbury in the past 10 years.

The recent record of absconds drew criticism of the Government’s policy on open prisons. Shadow home secretary David Davis accused ministers of putting the public in danger.

The Home Office hit back, saying all inmates are "rigorously risk assessed" and categorised as being of low risk to the public before they are moved to the low-security jails.

Officials at Sudbury were previously criticised for spending #25,000 on a champagne party for staff as a reward for "high performance".

Chapman - who uses alias names of Aubery Ashby and Ashby Aubery - is described as white, 5ft 8ins tall, of thin build, with short grey hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo on his left arm.

His last known address was Newington Green, London.