A DOUBLE murderer who went missing from prison last week has been arrested in East Lancashire.

Mark Edmonds stabbed 25-year-old Cecily Browne and her five year old daughter Khardine to death in their home in Stainton Gardens, Lincoln, in September 1984.

The bodies of the mother and daughter were discovered by neighbours two days later.

Reports from the time say his motive was to steal £40 from the gas meter.

Edmonds was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court in May 1985.

Last week, 27 years into his sentence, he was released from HMP Sudbury to go out and work but failed to return.

Blackburn magistrates heard Edmonds, 52, spent Saturday night drinking in the Cross Guns pub, Church, near Accrington, before going on to a house party.

Police were informed of his whereabouts after an associate revealed he was “on the run.”

Work placements are designed to prepare prisoners for their eventual release from custody.

Edmonds was sent in custody to Burnley Crown Court on a charge of escaping from lawful custody.

Bernard Horne, defending, said his client had been on temporary release which allowed him to work outside the prison and had simply not returned.

“He did not have to physically escape from custody,” said Mr Horne.

The incident comes just weeks after another man absconded from the same open prison.

Simon James Whitehall, 31, absconded on Tuesday, May 15. Whitehall was sentenced at Coventry District Crown Court on April 16, 2010 to six years in prison for burglary.