Man who killed Sunderland mum found after absconding from HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire

A man who killed a school dinner lady in a Sunderland hit-and-run has been found after absconding from prison.

Alan Paul Steel is serving an indefinite sentence at HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire for causing death by dangerous driving when he went missing on 31 May.

Police appealed to help trace Steel for six days before officers in Nottinghamshire found him.

Derbyshire Police confirmed on Sunday evening (5 June) he had been located.

The 42-year-old killed Paula Stead, 32, in Sunderland in September 2006 after "driving like a maniac", according to witnesses.

Mrs Stead was carried along the road on the bonnet and windscreen of Steel's 4x4 Jeep, suffering catastrophic injuries and being "left to die".

The vehicle also struck Mrs Stead's 11-year-old daughter Bridie and her cousin's 10-year-old daughter Danica Green, who later had her right leg amputated below the knee.

Commenting on the incident, the sentencing judge at Newcastle Crown Court in January 2007 said it was "as bad a case of causing death by dangerous driving that it has ever been my misfortune to come across".

Steel was handed an indefinite sentence for public protection after admitting causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and a string of other related motoring offences.

Derbyshire Police said: "We would like to thank everyone who responded to our appeal to locate him."