New image released of missing prisoner

A new image has been released of a prisoner who absconded from an open jail earlier this week.

Daniel Gee, 44, from Liverpool, was given an indefinite sentence in 2010 for making threats to kill. He went missing from Kirklevington Grange Prison, near Yarm, Teesside, on Monday.

Cleveland Police has said he has links to the North Yorkshire area including Whitby, as well as Carlisle, St Helens and Liverpool.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed a prisoner had absconded, describing the scenario as "rare".

Police have appealed for help in tracing Gee, who is described as a white male of large build, around 6ft-tall (1.8m), and bald.

He was last seen wearing a black jumper, black Adidas trouser bottoms with a white stripe down each leg, and black trainers. He was carrying a yellow JD Sports bag.

During a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in October 2009, Gee was found guilty of two counts of threats to kill and another two of blackmail. He also admitted conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition

He had previously been the subject of months of police surveillance that recorded him making threats and trying to obtain firearms, after he was shot in the stomach outside a pub in the Anfield area of Liverpool on New Year's Day in 2008.

He went on to make threatening phone calls to the family of the man jailed for shooting him.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed Gee had gone missing from a Category D prison but maintained any risk assessment of the prisoner would have been robust and those who flouted the rules would be punished and "face extra time behind bars".

“All prisoners in Category D prisons are robustly risk-assessed and absconds are rare," a spokesperson said.

Category D prisons have minimal security and allow risk-assessed prisoners to spend most of their day away from jail on licence to carry out activities such as work and education, as part of their rehabilitation.

Gee was serving a public protection (IPP) sentence - a jail term introduced in 2005 for serious crimes and persistent criminals but abolished in 2012 after public opposition. Under an IPP, sentences are indeterminate rather than fixed-term - with a minimum period served in custody before the prisoner is considered for release.

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