Black Dog Strangler Phillip Westwater captured after breakout

Phillip Westwater (PA)

A convicted killer who escaped from a treatment centre was found last night after he was recognised by a member of the public.

Phillip Westwater, 44, disappeared from St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth, Newcastle, at 10am on Tuesday. The man, known as the Black Dog Strangler, told guards he wanted to go to the toilet where he changed out of his clothes and fled the medium-secure unit. He was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act following a pub fight in 1989.

Whilst receiving treatment at Ashworth Hospital, Liverpool, the following year he strangled his fellow patient Derek Williams with his dressing-gown cord, apparently believing his victim had turned into a black dog. Northumbria Police said: "The missing man has been located safe and well in the Newcastle area. Officers will be taking him back to the secure unit at St Nicholas's Hospital."