A JUDGE has asked for a report from the governor of an open prison after two inmates absconded last month.

Dean Jackson and Damien Burns went missing after apparently walking out of Hatfield Prison, a category D institution, near Doncaster, on May 19.

Both were back behind bars within two days after being re-arrested in or near their own home areas.

Jackson, 27, from Newcastle, was arrested by police after being spotted near a bus stop with his girlfriend, in Stanley, County Durham.

Thirty-nine-year-old Burns, from Scarborough, was found hiding in a wardrobe in his home town.

Jackson appeared via video link from Durham Prison at a preliminary hearing at the nearby crown court today (Friday June 6), charged with absconding from custody.

Judge Christopher Prince called for a report from the prison governor as to how the men were able to walk free from “a prison environment”.

Jackson, who is awaiting sentence for theft, said he was re-called to prison on licence, with, what he thought was a release date in November.

Judge Prince said this was among the questions he wanted confirming by the prison.

Ros Scott Bell, for Jackson, asked that the report also includes mention of the inmate’s conduct while at Hatfield.

Judge Prince added: “I want to know what the prison thinks about all of these matters.”

He adjourned the hearing for four weeks and remanded Jackson back to prison to appear, again, via the video link on Friday July 4, by which time he hopes he will have the requested prison report.