Strangler goes on the run

A CONVICTED killer dubbed the Black Dog Strangler has escaped from a secure hospital, police said last night.

Phillip Westwater, 44, fled St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth, Newcastle, at 10am after asking to go to the toilet.

He was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act following a pub fight in 1989, then strangled fellow patient Derek Williams at Ashworth Hospital, Liverpool, with his dressing gown cord.

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