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Swedish police hunt psychiatric patient

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Swedish police hunt psychiatric patient
Swedish police are hunting a man who escaped from a psychiatric ward in Sundsvall. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

UPDATED: Police in Sweden were on Tuesday morning hunting for a 26-year-old convicted criminal who went on the run from a psychiatric ward in the north-east of the country.

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The man, who escaped from a psychiatric ward for serious offenders in Sundsvall on Monday, is convicted of attempted murder and a series of aggravated assaults.

Swedish police were still searching for him on Tuesday morning, but spoke candidly to media about the difficulties of knowing where to start.

“He may just as well be on Mallorca,” regional police spokesman Jan-Erik Eriksson told the TT newswire, but added that they were focusing on northern Swedish towns Umeå and Östersund where the man is believed to have connections.

The 26-year-old disappeared without a trace around noon on Monday. He had previously been granted permission by a court to leave the clinic for brief periods of time, but never returned to the ward yesterday.

“He was supposed to be back around 1pm, but never showed,” ward manager Bengt Eriksson told TT.

According to regional newspaper Sundsvalls tidning the man has previously attacked fellow patients and carers, but police did not want to comment on whether or not he poses a danger to the public.

“But there is a reason why they are there [at the clinic]. If you're a patient at that kind of ward there is a risk factor,” said Jan-Erik Eriksson.

The man is described as being of heavy build, 180 centimetres tall (5ft 10in), with brown eyes and brown hair, and wearing black Adidas trousers and a green hooded sweater.

It is the second time this year a convicted criminal escapes from the psychiatric ward in Sundsvall. A sadistic paedophile who ran off in May was eventually found in Turkey last month.

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