A man who was jailed for life after a robbery at a BP garage in Gravesend has escaped from prison.

Lee Fudge, 29, previously of Margate, was convicted in 2007 after robbing the Tollgate service station on the coastbound carriageway of the A2.

Sussex Police have issued an appeal to find Fudge, who was a prisoner at Ford open prison in Arundel, West Sussex.

He was last seen at the prison at 8am on Thursday (July 2) before absconding.

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Ford (above left) has links to Gravesend and Birchington, also in Kent.

The controversial open prison has previously come under fire, after it was revealed that 89 prisoners are still unaccounted for, after absconding.

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Some of these have been missing since the 1970s.

Also missing since Thursday is burglar Mark Chatfield, 39, who was less than a year into his four-year sentence.

He was jailed in August last year for a burglary in Guildford.

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He has links to Guildford, Albury and Leatherhead in Guildford, and to Farnborough in Hampshire.

Chatfield was last seen at the prison at 5am on Thursday.

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Detective Inspector Dave Grover said: "We need the public's help to find both men so they can be returned to custody to serve the remainder of their sentences.

"Neither man was from Sussex but we do not know if they have left the county to go back to where they are from or if they are still here.

"If you see them do not approach them but instead call 999."

People with information should email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk quoting serial 47150083661 of 02/07, call 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

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