A RAPIST on the run who gave himself up after a police appeal in The News is back behind bars.
Detectives from the Public Protection Department at Hampshire Police last week revealed Leon Douglas had been missing for almost three months without trace.
Officers had been working to track the 42-year-old down after he flouted his curfew on August 19.
Now he has been recalled to prison after his mugshot was shown on the front page of The News.
Detectives released the image of Douglas after they were unable to track him down, despite extensive investigations.
He had earlier been released from prison after serving part of an eight-year jail sentence.
Less than 24 hours after the appeal, Douglas handed himself in to officers at Portsmouth Central police station in Winston Churchill Avenue last Friday.
Douglas was found to be in breach of the terms of being released from prison on licence by failing to inform the authorities of his whereabouts – a condition he must adhere to by law. It means he was automatically sent back to prison.
A Hampshire Probation Trust Spokesman said: ‘Public protection is our first priority, which is why serious sex offenders released from prison are closely supervised by both the Probation Service and the police, and why they must adhere to a strict set of conditions.
‘At the first sign of a breach of their licence conditions, the individual would be immediately recalled to custody.’
Douglas was jailed in May 2009 after being found guilty of two counts of raping a woman in a Portsmouth home in June 2008. He admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.