Key Points:

Police have found a prisoner who escaped from a police van north of Wellington yesterday.

Zharn Craig Burns, 24, escaped at the Paremata roundabout about 5pm by forcing a door open. The van was en route to Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt from Porirua District Court.

Police were alerted to the escape by a member of the public.

Burns, who is from the Kapiti area, was found at an address in Plimmerton, not far from where he escaped, police said early this afternoon.

- NZPA