A CONVICTED killer who murdered his own mother was back behind bars today.

Mark Rutter, 42, absconded from Stockton Hall Hospital, a medium-secure psychiatric unit at Stockton-on-the-Forest near York, last Wednesday morning.

But he was recaptured in Blackpool today and is now back in police custody.

He was arrested by Lancashire police at about 12.20pm and will be returned to North Yorkshire in due course.

During his time on the run police insisted he posed a low risk to other people - but still advised he should not be approached.

He disappeared after setting off on his weekly four-hour unescorted trip to York, when he usually catches the 10.10am bus from the village.

Rutter was jailed for life in 1998 for the murder of his mother at their home in Staffordshire the year before and has been at Stockton Hall since 2005.

He was said to be responding well to treatment and police originally feared he could have come to some harm rather than causing a threat to others as his failure to return was out of character.

He had shown no cause for concern during his time at the hospital and was described by staff as a “model patient” who had made substantial progress in his rehabilitation.

At his trial at Stafford Crown Court in 1998 Rutter was described as “a nine-year-old dressed up as a 28-year-old” and “a very damaged young man who is undoubtedly in need of help.”