A KILLER who went on the run from a British prison 12 years ago has been tracked down living a new life in Ireland.
Anthony Craig, 66, fled England in 2002 while he was an inmate at HMP Sudbury.
It emerged this week that Craig travelled to Ireland after walking out of the open prison and drifted around doing casual work as an odd-job man before settling in Co. Leitrim. It was there that he married a local woman in 2006.
But the truth caught up with Craig last year when he called gardaí to report a suspected prowler, only for them to realise he was a wanted man.
A court in Dublin has now ordered his extradition back to England, where he faces a return to jail.
The former labourer was sentenced to life in prison after he murdered John Kirby in Blackburn in 1973.
Craig lured the accountant into a party after meeting him at a gay pub and robbed him before hitting him over the head with a stone.
By the time he fled HMP Sudbury he had served 28 years of his sentence.
The High Court in Dublin ordered his extradition back to England last week, bailing Craig until next month pending a possible appeal.
During one appearance in court he reportedly begged not to be sent back, saying: "I have been rehabilitated. Ireland has given me a chance."
This week Blackburn MP Jack Straw, a former Home Secretary, said Craig should be brought back to England to serve the rest of his sentence for the “very shocking crime”.
