A man who was jailed for life for gunning down a man in the street with a sawn-off shotgun while on the run has escaped from prison again.

Mark Ryder, 37, was part way through a life sentence for the murder of Stuart McCue in Whitehawk, Brighton, in May, 1993, when he disappeared.

He vanished yesterday while on a day trip to Cambridge from HMP Highpoint, near Haverhill in Suffolk.

He has served 12 years of a life sentence handed down in 1994 for the murder of Mr McCue, a 25-year-old bricklayer and father-of-two who had been a childhood friend in Whitehawk.

Ryder was last seen in at a department store in Cambridge.

Suffolk Police said anyone who sees Ryder should not try to approach him.

A police spokesman said: "Ryder was on an escorted visit to Cambridge when he escaped.

"He was last seen by prison escorts in the Debenham's store in Cambridge's Grafton Centre at about 2.25pm.

"He is described as white, 5ft 5in tall, with mousy, brown hair which is shaved and greying at the sides and short on top. He has a faded tattoo of a cross on his forehead. He was last seen wearing a light blue longsleeved Lonsdale sweatshirt, blue jeans and white trainers.

"Anyone who sees Ryder should not approach him but contact police immediately on 999."

The Argus reported how Ryder killed McCue after escaping from Lewes Prison in August 1991 while on a prisonorganised boat trip from Rye to Brighton Marina.

He moved to New Milton, Hampshire, to set up a new life with Emma Devoy, Mr McCue's ex-girlfriend and the mother of Mr McCue's two children.

In Hampshire Ryder spent months in hiding, installing powerful spotlights and alarms and keeping a shotgun in his car and an airgun by his bed.

Ryder and Mr McCue fell out over Miss Devoy while they were inmates at Lewes Prison.

At his murder trial, Ryder told a jury in Lewes Crown Court that he had been living in fear of a revenge attack by Mr McCue. He said he started carrying the shotgun in his car to protect himself.

On a visit to Brighton in May, 1993, Ryder was driving up Whitehawk Way with two friends from New Milton when he spotted Mr McCue outside Valley Social Club.

Ryder got out of the car and shot his victim four times from about ten yards away, in the chest and in the back of the thigh as he tried to crawl away.

The murder took place in front of Mr McCue's girlfriend, two teenage nieces, his nineyear- old nephew and another child.

Ryder had previously escaped from Borstal young offender's institute in Dover.

He once disguised himself as a woman to visit Mr McCue in Lewes Prison, covering up the cross he had scored on his forehead with his hair.