A MURDERER who decapitated his victim, then kept his head in the fridge, was being hunted by police yesterday after absconding during a shopping trip from an open prison.
John Bowden, 51, failed to return to HMP Noranside in Angus at about 3pm on Thursday.
Police said Bowden, who was last seen in the nearby town of Forfar, was undergoing a test of experiencing "open conditions" when he absconded.
Bowden, origina
lly from south London, was given a life sentence in 1982 at the Old Bailey after being convicted of murdering park-keeper Donald Ryan.
With two accomplices, Bowden lured Mr Ryan to a flat to rob him and then mutilated him while he was still alive using a handsaw, an electric carving knife and a machete.
Tayside Police are examining CCTV footage and working with British Transport Police and other forces in an attempt to trace him. He was last seen near Tesco's in Castle Street, Forfar.
A Scottish Prison Service (SPS) spokesman said the public should not approach Bowden. He added: "If anyone is aware of his whereabouts, they should contact the police."
Police issued a press release alerting the public to Bowden's disappearance at about 3pm yesterday, 24 hours after he went on the run. A spokesman last night was unable to explain the delay.
In 1992, while being held at Maidstone jail in Kent, Bowden went on the run during a compassionate visit to his sick father. He was recaptured and was transferred in 1995 to Scotland, where he was held at a number of jails before being moved to Noranside in October 2007.
The SPS said it believed Bowden had been transferred from England because he was in a long-term relationship with a woman living in Scotland.
A spokesman said he had been in the prison's independent living unit, and had been allowed out to buy groceries in Forfar, but failed to return at the agreed time.
He added: "Obviously, the offence that he committed was horrific, but he did it 25 years ago and, under preparing people for release, he would be a low-category prisoner."
Bowden is described as 5ft 7in, of medium build with grey/white receding hair. He has a fair complexion, deep-set blue eyes and a tattoo on his right arm that reads "Ireland the Brave".
The case is the latest problem to hit the open prisons, following the Robert Foye scandal last summer. Foye raped a 16-year-old girl after absconding from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee last August.
BACKGROUNDJOHN Bowden was originally ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison for the murder of Donald Ryan.
Parts of Mr Ryan's body were hidden on waste ground and streets near the flat in Camberwell, London, and his severed head was stored in a fridge before being dumped in a dustbin. During Bowden's court case, the judge, Mr Justice Mars-Jones, said: "There was never a more terrible case of murder than this one."
The full article contains 509 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
