Philip Westwater, also known as Phillip Whiteman, strangled a man at Ashworth Hospital with his dressing gown cord (Northumbria Police)
Phillip Westwater, also known as Phillip Whiteman, strangled a man at Ashworth Hospital with his dressing gown cord (Northumbria Police)

A convicted killer known as the Black Dog Strangler has been recaptured after he escaped from a secure psychiatric hospital in Newcastle.

Phillip Westwater, 44, also known as Phillip Whiteman, went on the run after fleeing from St Nicholas hospital in Gosforth, Newcastle on the morning of 2 January by escaping through a toilet window.

A manhunt for Westwater began, and he was found when a member of the public recognised him from a photograph widely circulated in the media.

Northumbria Police had previously urged the public not to approach Westwater.

A spokeswoman for 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."

The hospital from which Westwater escaped is considered a medium-secure unit. He escaped after requesting to go to the toilet while he was being escorted from his ward to a restaurant in a separate building on the hospital site.

A Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "Patients in receipt of hospital care routinely undertake periods of planned or escorted leave as part of their treatment plans, which are designed to help in their recovery.

"Before being granted leave, all patients are rigorously risk-assessed. In the rare event that a patient does go missing, we have agreed protocols in place with our colleagues at Northumbria Police to ensure that patients are returned to hospital as quickly as possible."

Westwater is being held indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after he attacked a man with a shard of glass in a pub in 1989, leaving him paralysed.

He then strangled fellow patient Derek Williams at Ashworth Hospital, Liverpool, with his dressing gown cord. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility because he was convinced his victim had turned into a black dog.

Westwater has previously been treated at Rampton secure hospital in Nottinghamshire and high security Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire.