Four escapes in five months at secure unit

A secure mental hospital has launched a security review after four violent criminals, including a murderer, escaped in less than five months.

The emergency assessment at Springfield hospital in Tooting comes after a rapist became the fourth patient to escape since the beginning of November.

The hospital said it would look at security after Barrington Gordon, 41, absconded on Saturday before turning himself in yesterday. His escape comes roughly a month after convicted killer Paul Caesar, 37, died when he was hit by a train at Balham station, having also gone on the run. He was believed to have committed suicide.

The public were "strongly advised" not to approach Gordon despite assurances from the trust, following his return, that no one from the low security unit he was on posed a risk to the public.

Police said Gordon was convicted of two counts of rape in 2000.

A spokesman for the hospital said: "We are working with the police and reviewing our security in relation to this particular ward. This review will be going on in the next few days. He [Gordon] was a patient who had actually been out on leave before."

Gordon handed himself in at a police station at 6am yesterday. He had not been seen since 5.45pm the previous evening. The hospital, run by South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust, has had a string of escapes. It was condemned in 2004 after patient John Barrett stabbed retired banker Denis Finnegan, 50, to death in Richmond Park after walking out of the hospital's grounds.