Killer Escapes: 'Black Dog Strangler' On The Run

A convicted killer - dubbed the "Black Dog Strangler" - has escaped from a secure psychiatric hospital in Newcastle.

Police are hunting 44-year-old Phillip Westwater, also known as Philip Whiteman, who fled St Nicholas Hospital on Jubilee Road in Gosforth, at 10am.

He is described as white, 6ft tall, of slim build with brown/grey hair.

Westwater changed his clothes before fleeing and is believed to be wearing black Adidas Samba trainers, grey and black combat trousers, a black and blue jacket, gloves and a black hat.

He is a diabetic and uses an insulin pump. Police believe he has enough insulin to last him for three days.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "Officers are making inquiries into this individual and any risks he may or may not pose.

"In the meantime people are asked to contact police on the 999 emergency number if they see him and not to approach him."

Westwater was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

In 1989, he attacked a man with a piece of glass in a pub fight, leaving the drinker paralysed for life.

The following year he strangled fellow patient Derek Williams at Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool with his dressing gown cord.

Westwater admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, having become convinced his victim had turned into a black dog.

He married a nurse while he was a patient at high-security Rampton Hospital in 2008.

They tied the knot in a social club at the Nottinghamshire hospital.

Before being treated at Rampton, Westwater had also been a patient at Broadmoor.