Killer escapes secure hospital - a huge police search is underway

Police have issued an urgent warning to members of the public after a woman who killed her mother escaped from hospital.

Laura Van Marle has fled secure unit in Wellington in Somerset, the Mirror reports. She was being treated there under a hospital order.

The 43-year-old admitted stabbing her 69-year-old mother Susanna Van Marle in 2020. Police said Van Marle made off on foot on Friday night after threatening a member of hospital staff with a weapon while on escorted leave at about 5.10pm.

The staff member was not injured. A search to find her is now underway with members of the public warned not to approach her.

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She is described by police as being white, about 5ft 7ins tall and slim with blonde hair. Laura was last seen wearing a white vest top, grey denim shorts and black trainers, but may have changed her clothes.

An Avon and Somerset Police update described the search for her as a 'fast-paced operation' and said detectives are following up all lines of enquiry. Officers on foot have been supported by the National Police Air Service helicopter in the operation around the Wellington area, alongside additional specialist units including a dog and handler.

Van Marle, who is known to walk long distances, may have left the Wellington area on foot or via public transport. She has links to Herefordshire.

In 2021, Van Marle was made the subject of an indefinite hospital order after she admitted stabbing her 69-year-old mother Susanna, who was found dead in the village of Cradley, Herefordshire, on 26 September 2020.

A court heard she had travelled around 150 miles to her mother's property from Dorset, where she had been living an open-air