A woman jailed for murder who went on the run after failing to return from an open jail near Maidstone is back behind bars.

Clare Barstow, 52, was released on temporary licence from East Sutton Park prison on Friday, March 15 to attend work, but failed to return.

Kent Police today said Barstow, pictured right, was found in West Sussex five days later.

A spokesman said she had been charged with remaining unlawfully at large after the expiry of a period of temporary licence and has been returned to closed prison conditions pending a court appearance at a later date.

Barstow, who was serving a life sentence, was jailed in 1992.

The university graduate was convicted at the Old Bailey for the murder of Cathy O'Neill.

She had been working for a short time as a carer for Ms O'Neill in London at the time of the murder.

The jury heard there had been an argument between Barstow and her employer over the alleged theft of £130.

But Barstow denied this, claiming she was at a bar in Oxford Street at the time of the attack - in which Ms O'Neill was stabbed more than 50 times.

Barstow has always protested her innocence.