Convicted murderer John Massey, who escaped from Pentonville prison and has been arrested

Convicted murderer John Massey has been arrested having been on the run for 48 hours after escaping from Pentonville Prison in north London.

The 64-year-old used a makeshift rope, thought to be made from bed sheets, to escape over a wall on Wednesday evening.

The Met Police said he was arrested at about 5.15pm yesterday in Faversham, Kent.

Massey was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting a man dead with a sawn-off shotgun at a pub in Hackney, east London, in 1975.

The escape was the third time he has given guards the slip.

A second man was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting an absconder and was also taken into police custody.

The Prison Service is investigating how Massey managed to elude staff.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “This continues to be the subject of a thorough ongoing investigation and Mr Massey will be returned to prison custody as soon as possible.

“We always press for the heaviest penalties for those who escape or attempt to escape.”