ONE of Victoria’s worst sex predators on the run for a second time from Ararat correctional centre has been found.

Sean Carmody-Coyle was arrested at a bus stop in Ararat at 9am this morning.

Police say he is expected to be charged with breaching his supervision order.

He escaped from the Corella Place facility in the state’s west for the second time in less than a year after he cut off his GPS tracking device.

He is believed to have fled on a mountain bike, armed with several knives.

Police confirmed yesterday they were not called for nearly 90 minutes after alarms were triggered.

Detective inspector Ian Campbell said Carmody-Coyle was armed with five kitchen knives.

“He has a significant history of violence including sexual assaults against women.

“His criminal priors are significant, he has a mental disability and he is large in stature and we believe he’s presently in the possession of five kitchen knives.”

Police said he was wearing two ankle bracelets which have not been recovered.

One of the bracelets alarmed at 1.08am but police were not called until about 2.30am, the Det Insp said.

This was to allow staff time to search for the offender and gain access to his room, he said.

Carmody-Coyle was wearing a new GPS bracelet, which can track offenders outside the facility, but he had managed to cut it off before fleeing.

This tampering of the electronic device triggered the alarm.

Corrections Victoria and Victoria Police earlier would not say exactly when police were alerted.

“The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident,” Department of Justice spokesman, Michael Newhouse, said.

When police did attend the scene, they searched the local area but he could not be found.

The mountain bike was discovered earlier today, police confirmed this afternoon.

Carmody-Coyle escaped from the same facility in June last year.

He was found after a day on the loose, with fellow escapee David Gregory Byrnes, on the Western Highway about 23km from Ararat.

He was charged with breaching his serious sex offender supervision order for that escape - which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison - but was jailed for just three months.

Now the 28-year-old is on the run again.

He is described as caucasian, around 204cm tall with an athletic build.

Carmody-Coyle was last seen wearing a black top and black tracksuit pants.

“(He) may also be armed with knives and members of the public are urged not to approach him,” Victoria Police spokeswoman Natalie Webster said.

“Investigators have released an image of him and are urging anyone who sights him to contact police immediately.”

ELECTRONIC CRACKDOWN: SEX FIENDS TAGGED

Corella Place has 35 residents including child sex offenders and rapists. The sex predators have completed their prison sentences but are considered unacceptable risks to community.

The facility is next door to Ararat prison, the Hopkins Correctional Centre.

It is just two kilometres from Ararat town centre.

Residents have a curfew but are taken on escorted day trips.

Carmody-Coyle has a criminal history of violent sexual offending and was housed at Corella Place in February last year on a five year order.

This is believed to be at least the sixth breach of an order involving Corella Place since the facility was opened eight years ago.

Police are expected to charge Carmody-Coyle with breaching the serious sex offender supervision order again when caught.

In May last year Corrections Minister Edward O’Donohue said Corella Place residents would be the first to use GPS bracelets that can track the offenders outside the facility grounds.

The old bracelets only triggered an alarm when an offender left the facility but could not track them outside that specific zone.

An investigation has alreday launched an investigation into how Carmody-Coyle was able to cut the bracelet off.

Anyone with any information about Carmody-Coyle’s whereabouts should call Triple Zero immediately.

The escape comes the same day as the Herald Sun reported that molesters housed in a secretive treatment centre in Fairfield in Melbourne’s inner-north will be electronically tagged whenever they set foot outside the facility.

jon.kaila@news.com.au

Originally published as Dangerous sex predator arrested