A MURDERER who killed a childhood friend following a jailbreak was on the loose again last night after evading prison guards on a day trip from a Suffolk jail.

A MURDERER who killed a childhood friend following a jailbreak was on the loose again last night after evading prison guards on a day trip from a Suffolk jail.

Mark Ryder was serving a life sentence at HMP Highpoint, near Haverhill, for killing father-of-two Stuart McCue in Brighton more than 13 years ago.

Yesterday, the 37-year-old made his latest dash for freedom while on a supervised trip to Cambridge.

Despite a major search of the area, prison officers and police were unable to capture the inmate before he fled.

Details of how he made his getaway have not been released by either the prison service or the police.

He was last seen at about 2.25pm by prison officers in the Debenhams store in Cambridge's Grafton Centre.

Police are urging anyone who spots Ryder not to approach him.

Last night it emerged Ryder had committed murder after making another break for freedom from a prison-organised boat trip in Brighton in the early 1990s. He was serving a sentence in Lewes for stealing cars at the time.

During Ryder's murder trial, the court was told he had known his victim, 25-year-old Mr McCue, since they were children.

But the pair became enemies when Ryder developed a relationship with the mother of one of Mr McCue's children.

Mr McCue had split up with the woman after being jailed for four years and, when he heard Ryder was helping to bring up his son, was consumed with jealousy.

When Ryder was sent to the same jail, in Lewes, near Brighton, the pair came to blows. Ryder was known to have been scared of Mr McCue, who was said to have had “boxers' physique”.

Ryder managed to escape jail in the early 1990s and spent months on the run with his girlfriend and her young child, before eventually finding a hideout in the New Forest.

They started a new life together but then, in May 1993, Ryder found Mr McCue had been released from jail.

Fearful Mr McCue would hunt him down, Ryder decided to take matters into his own hands.

After driving round Brighton, Ryder spotted Mr McCue outside the Valley Social Club on a housing estate in the early evening. Ryder jumped out of the car and shot Mr McCue dead with a sawn-off shotgun.

Ryder told the court: “I didn't have any willpower. I was thinking 'no more'. I cannot take any more.”

Ryder was later arrested in Hertfordshire, after being turned in by his lover, who was said to have been fearful of what Mr McCue's family would do to her if she did not.

Ryder, a former market trader, was 25 at the time he was sentenced, in October 1994.

He is described as white, 5ft 5ins, with mousey, brown hair which is shaved and greying at the sides and short on top. He has a faded tattoo of a cross on his forehead.

He was last seen wearing a light blue long-sleeved Lonsdale sweatshirt, blue jeans and white trousers.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said last night: “Anyone who sees Ryder should not approach him but contact police immediately on 999.”