Convicted killer and rapist recaptured in Eastbourne

A convicted killer and rapist who absconded from a mental health centre has been arrested in Sussex.

Officers launched a search after Samuel Lee, 44, failed to return from an authorised trip from the John Howard Centre, Kenworthy Road, Hackney, east London, last Thursday afternoon.

He was found in the Sussex seaside town of Eastbourne yesterday evening. Lee is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2006 of snatching a 31-year-old cerebral palsy sufferer in Finsbury Park, north London and raping her in 2000.

In 1989, he was jailed for manslaughter, after he stabbed a man to death. Police officers thanked the public for their help in tracking him down.