Fugitive drugs convict who escaped from prison in 1995 is finally caught again at the Channel Tunnel

A man who has been on the run after absconding from prison over two decades ago is back behind bars after being arrested in France. Michael John Ashworth, 57, of no fixed address appeared before Medway Magistrates on 21 August charged with escaping from lawful custody.

He was arrested in Coquelles, near Calais, on Sunday while trying to board a Eurotunnel shuttle to Britain.

Ashworth absconded from HMP Sudbury, an open prison in Derbyshire, 22 years ago where he was serving a five year sentence for drug offences.

He had 18 months left to serve when he failed to return having been released on a temporary licence in 1995.

Reports say he has been living in the Netherlands for at least some of this time.

Medway magistrates also said must serve the rest of his sentence, reported the BBC.

After Ashworth failed to report back to prison authorities in the mid-1990s, Derbyshire police described him in a 2014 appeal as white, and 5' 7" tall, and from the Clitheroe and Colne areas of Lancashire.

Raymond Lenihan, 60, was named in the same appeal and is one of the most wanted men in Britain. He absconded from HMP Sudbury in 1997 while serving a life sentence for murder. He was convicted on November 18, 1977, at Leicester Crown Court, said Derbyshire police. Lenihan is white, 5'11, has a slim build, blue eyes and had brown hair. He is from the Birmingham area.