A murderer who once served as a royal aide is to appear in court charged with escaping from prison.

Jane Andrews became the target of a nationwide police hunt when she went missing from East Sutton Park Prison near Maidstone in November 2009.

The former aide to the Duchess of York, who battered boyfriend Tom Cressman with a cricket bat and stabbed him with a kitchen knife when he refused to marry her, was sentenced to life for murder in 2001.

After serving eight-and-a-half years of her sentence, she was moved to the open prison near Sutton Valence, but spent only four days there before going missing.

She was found three days later at The Premier Inn at the Maidstone Services, junction 8 of the M20.

She has since been remanded at HMP Holloway in north London and is due to appear at Maidstone Magistrates' Court on Friday, April 9, charged with absconding from prison.