AN escaped North-East murderer who was on the run for six days has been arrested in Scotland.

Lee Nevins, 24, who was serving a minimum 17-year sentence at the top-security Frankland Prison, in Durham City, escaped from Sunderland Royal Hospital last Tuesday afternoon.

He was caught at noon yesterday when police raided a house in Tillcoultry, in central Scotland.

He was arrested on suspicion of escaping lawful custody and was due to be returned to the North-East last night.

Superintendent Gordon Milward, of Northumbria Police, said: "I would like to thank the public and Crimestoppers for their help in this large-scale investigation.

"I am pleased that our efforts have been successful.

"We had information that he fled this area and went to Scotland.

"He was quite subdued when he was caught and he was not wearing handcuffs at the time.''

Nevins, who has previous convictions for violence, was jailed for beating to death disabled man Lee Jobling, 20, after he drunkenly gatecrashed a party at Mr Jobling's flat on the Leam Lane Estate, Gateshead, in April 2006.

He and co-accused Mark Lang, both from Gateshead, were found guilty of Mr Jobling's murder following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court later in the year.

The court heard that the pair ignored their victim's pleas for mercy and, as he struggled for breath, began singing Old Macdonald Had A Farm. Mr Jobling died 19 days later from head injuries.

Nevins escaped from Sunderland Royal Hospital, where he was taken under guard to receive treatment for an injury to his left hand.

He asked to be taken to the toilet and managed to slip his hand out of one set of handcuffs and get past two guards.

Police launched a hunt for the escaped prisoner, concentrating first on the Sunderland area and then Gateshead, before looking outside the region.

Last week, police arrested a youth and two men on suspicion of assisting an offender, and they were bailed.

Newcastle central railway station was closed by police on Saturday evening after officials received a tip Nevins was on a train, but a search found no trace of him.