POLICE are hunting a convicted robber from Darwen who escaped from a young offenders' institute in Northumberland.

Steven Thomas Taylor, 20, climbed over the outer wall and scaled the perimeter fence at Castington Young Offenders' Institute on Saturday night.

He and another convicted robber, Lyndon Marshall, 19, of Sheffield, were both reported missing yesterday when staff unlocked the cells at 8.30am.

Prison staff found brickwork removed to create a hole in the exterior wall of the ground floor cell shared by the two prisoners.

It is believed the pair then broke into a locked workshop within the prison and stole a ladder with which to scale the perimeter fence.

A red Maestro van was stolen from the same area at about 6.10pm yesterday and was later found abandoned in the coach park at Scotch Corner.

Police believe the two prisoners may also have stolen a Vauxhall Nova from the Scotch Corner area.

Taylor was convicted of robbery at Burnley Crown Court in 1996 and was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

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