Paul Burnell & Marc Gaier,BBC News
A manhunt has begun for a prisoner who absconded from an open jail.
Daniel Gee, 44, was given an indefinite sentence for making threats to kill at Liverpool Crown Court in 2010.
He was told by a judge that he posed a significant risk to the public.
Merseyside Police said Gee had absconded from a jail in Cleveland and Cleveland Police were leading the search.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed Gee had gone missing from a Category D prison and said it was a rare scenario.
“Offenders who break the rules are punished and face extra time behind bars and we are working with the police to recapture this prisoner,” a spokesperson said.
“All prisoners in Category D prisons are robustly risk-assessed and absconds are rare.”
Category D prisons have minimal security and allow risk-assessed prisoners to spend most of their day away from the jail to carry out activities such as work and education as part of their rehabilitation.
Gee had been the subject of months of police surveillance that recorded him making threats to kill and trying to get hold of firearms.
It happened after he was shot in the stomach outside a pub in the Anfield area of Liverpool on New Year’s Day 2008.
He went on to make threatening phone calls to the family of the man jailed for shooting him.
During a trial in October 2009, Gee was found guilty of two counts of threats to kill and another two of blackmail. He also admitted conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition.
