TWO men, including a convicted robber who was jailed for life, are on the run after absconding from an open prison.

Police urged the public not to approach Lee Fudge, 29, and Mark Chatfield, 39, after they disappeared from HMP Ford in West Sussex yesterday. They are thought to be in the Farnborough area.

Fudge was jailed for life in 2007 for robbing a BP garage in Kent that year. He has links to Gravesend and Birchington in Kent, Sussex Police said.

Chatfield was jailed for four years for burglary in August last year after he broke into a home in Guildford, Surrey, in December 20013.

Detective Inspector Dave Grover said: ''We need the public's help to find both men so they can be returned to custody to serve the remainder of their sentences.

''Neither man was from Sussex but we do not know if they have left the county to go back to where they are from or if they are still here.''

Fudge was last seen at the prison at 8am yesterday, while Chatfield - who has links to Guildford, Albury and Leatherhead - was last spotted at 5am.

Anyone with information about the pair is asked to call 999.