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A violent thug serving life for a string of brutal attacks on pensioners was on the run tonight after absconding from jail.

Sabul Miah vanished while on day release from Standford Hill Prison 11 years after being given two life terms by a judge who said he posed “a grave danger” to the public.

Police were tonight hunting for Miah, 39, after he failed to show for a routine roll call of inmates at the jail on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, at lunchtime on Thursday.

His 2003 sentencing hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court heard the crack and heroin addict carried out a series of knife attacks in “persistent and cruel crimes against the elderly”.

He stabbed an elderly war veteran in the chest and knifed an 82-year-old woman in the hand, as well as attacking three others for their pensions.

Miah, from Poplar, east London admitted attacking five people between 30 December 2002 and 25 February 2003.

Charges relating to 10 other attacks on pensioners were ordered to lie on file.

Jailing Miah, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin said he posed a “grave danger” to the public, particularly pensioners, and there was no way of telling when the danger would pass.

He said: “These were heartrending offences committed against some of the most vulnerable people in the community without the least sign of mercy.

“The harrowing effect on your victims and their families cannot be overstated.

“The courts will do everything to protect people against such terrible crime.”

Among the victims was 79-year-old George Rowe, who was stabbed in the chest and had his throat slit at own home in Tower Hamlets, east London.

Mr Rowe’s daughter, Patricia McFarlane, said “the lights went from his eyes” after Miah attacked him for his pension.

As he was treated in hospital, doctors found he had lung cancer from which he subsequently died.

“I will never know how long he would have lived if he had not been stabbed that day,” Mrs McFarlane said in 2003.

“It has devastated our family. We feel ripped apart by this. In the end he was not frightened of dying, only of living.”

George Cameron, 83, tried to fight off Miah with his walking stick when he was mugged, but was pushed to the floor while Miah searched for his pension.

And Miah tried to snatch 82-year-old Sarah Mundy’s bag as she returned home with her pension.

When she told him he was not having it, Miah stabbed her hand.

Kent Police today said they were alerted at 1.10pm on Thursday “that a man had absconded from HM Prison Standford Hill”.

A spokeswoman added: “Officers are making enquiries to locate the prisoner.”

A Ministry of justice spokesman said: “Open prisons and temporary licence are an important tool in rehabilitating long term offenders but not at the expense of public safety.”

He added: “Keeping the public safe is our priority and we have made major changes to tighten up temporary release processes and open prison eligibility.

“Absconds have reached record lows under this Government - down 80% over the last 10 years - but each and every incident is taken seriously, with the police contacted as a matter of urgency.”