POLICE had not visited the address where a violent prisoner who was on the run died, it emerged today.Officers today said they were unaware Paul Fleet, an absconder from Hollesley Bay, he had connections with the Stowmarket property.

POLICE had not visited the address where a violent prisoner who was on the run died, it emerged today.

Officers today said they were unaware Paul Fleet, an absconder from Hollesley Bay, he had connections with the Stowmarket property.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Evening Star the 39-year-old father-of-two was found dead at the house of a friend in Fairfield Hill,- but it remains a mystery over how he died.

Investigations are under way to discover the reason behind his death - though it is believed he had taken an overdose of drugs.

His best friend, Morgan Smith attempted to resuscitate him before calling the ambulance. Fleet was pronounced dead at the scene.

The ambulance service said they had received a call to the address and on arrival had informed the police what they had found.

A police spokeswoman said officers had not previously visited the property because they had been told by the prison service that Fleet had an address in Thetford and were not aware of any connections with Stowmarket.

Mr Smith said he had known Fleet for ten years and the two had become very close while sharing a prison cell.

“I lost him in my arms. I held him and I could feel the life go out of him,” he said.

Fleet, who was serving five years for wounding with intent, was one of two men who absconded from Hollesley Bay open prison on March 26.

He left on the same day as Terry Glynn Waterman, 38, who was serving eight years for robbery and is still missing.

Fleet, formerly of Station Street, Ipswich, was jailed at Norwich Crown Court in 2005 after an unprovoked attack after a case of mistaken identity.

He stabbed Frenchman Patrick Bilau at the Normandie Tower block of flats Rouen Road, Norwich, after asking him if he had spoken to his “missus”.

Mr Bilau was not seriously hurt but was left psychologically scarred, afraid to go out at night and nervous of strangers.

The court was told Fleet had an appalling record for violence. His previous convictions included threatening a shop worker at with a seven-inch blade in Mildenhall and robbing the shop of £49 while on bail, for which he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

He also robbed another shop in Mildenhall, and was arrested and brought to court after a burglary at the Marlborough Hotel in Felixstowe, where he was part of a gang which stole six boxes of champagne and two boxes of WKD.