Arrest In Hunt For Missing Teesside Prisoner

30 August 2012, 07:37 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Police searching for 34-year-old Bernard Lee Sharkey, who went missing from an open piston on Teesside, have arrested a man in the Morpeth area.

The 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and he will be interviewed by detectives from Cleveland Police.

Sharkey failed to return to Kirklevington Prison following work in the community and was last seen at Newham Grange Farm, Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, at 12.30pm on Thursday 23rd August.

Bernard Sharkey was serving an indeterminate sentence for threats to kill, affray and possession of an offensive weapon.

He is described as five foot nine inches tall, with short cropped brown hair, blue eyes, of proportionate build. He has a scar on the left hand side of his top lip and he has a Celtic band tattoo on his upper left arm.

He was last seen wearing a red striped polo shirt and grey jogging bottoms.

Acting Superintendent Rob Donaghy said:
"A man has been arrested in the Morpeth area of Northumbria this afternoon in connection with the ongoing search for Bernard Sharkey.

Sharkey remains outstanding and we would reiterate our warning to members of the public not to approach him but to contact 999 immediately; and we would again appeal to Bernard Sharkey to hand himself in."

Enquiries are ongoing in the Teesside area and elsewhere in the North-East.