Announcing his capture, Kate Anderson, the East Area Commander Chief Superintendent, said: “We are pleased to report that we have arrested Paul Robson.

“We are grateful to members of the public for their help and support in sharing our appeals and we’d also like to give thanks to everyone who have called in with potential sightings of him.

“We’d also like to extend our thanks to partner agencies and our officers for working tirelessly to apprehend Robson.”

Robson can now expect to be returned to a closed prison, where he is unlikely to be considered for parole or a further move to an open prison for at least two years or potentially four. Eligibility for parole is reviewed every two years.

Robson was deemed ‘suitable for a move to open conditions’

The parole board ruled in February last year that Robson should be rejected for parole, but recommended to the Justice Secretary that he was “suitable for a move to open conditions to test whether he would eventually be safe for release”.

It is understood the go ahead was given by Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials in June in the name of then Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland, who knew nothing about it.

The MoJ said on Wednesday night that Dominic Raab, the current Justice Secretary, has since toughened procedures to require his personal oversight of the most high-risk cases.

However, there was pressure for the MOJ’s review of the parole board to be extended to curb its practice of releasing lifers into open prisons without introducing extra conditions and check

Sir Robert said any decision by Mr Raab to overturn a parole board recommendation could be subject to legal challenge and urged the MoJ’s review to consider “stringent conditions” on high-risk offenders switched to open prisons.

Robson was transferred just weeks ago from a closed jail to HMP North Sea, described by former inmates as the “most open of open prisons” with a ramblers’ path through it. Inmates have keys to their rooms with no fences and only regular roll calls to prevent them leaving.

A multiple and persistent sex offender, Robson’s first known sex assault dates back to 1988 when he was jailed for 42 months for attacking a 12-year-old. Released early from jail in 1990, he then abducted and assaulted an eight-year-old girl, for which he was jailed for eight years.

After serving five years, he was subsequently given a conditional discharge for approaching two nine-year-old girls in the street. Months later, he attacked a 31-year-old woman in Reading, for which he received a five-year jail sentence.

‘Menace to females’

For his final and most violent offences, he received two life terms in 2020 for attempted rape and sexual assault. The judge described him as a “menace to females” and ordered he serve a minimum of nine years.

The parole board said it rejected four previous parole applications due to his risk, adding 11 years to his sentence, but said the decision to move him to an open prison was focused solely on his risk to the public and based on hundreds of pages of evidence and interviews with Robson and witnesses.

The MoJ said there was a strong incentive not to abscond from an open prison as an offender would be immediately returned to a closed jail and have to wait at least two years for their next parole hearing.

It admitted the MoJ could only challenge a parole board open prison move in “very limited circumstances” such as one based on inaccurate or unexplained evidence.