A man has been charged with an armed raid on a building society after going missing from a Kent prison.

Michael Wheatley, 55, failed to return to Standford Hill open jail on the Isle of Sheppey from day release last Saturday.

He and 53-year-old Kevin Perry were detained in east London on Wednesday.

The pair appeared at East Surrey Magistrates' Court in Redhill today.

Surrey Police said Wheatley is charged with robbery, possession of a firearm or imitation firearm and being unlawfully at large.

Perry, 53, of West India Dock Road, east London, is charged with assisting an offender, perverting the course of justice and handling stolen goods.

Wheatley was remanded in custody until Thursday, May 29.

Police were called to the Chelsea Building Society in Sunbury-on-Thames after a raid on Wednesday.

A staff member is said to have been threatened with a handgun before the offender fled with cash.