Murderer escapes from prison

Melissa Anne Wepa, a convicted murderer who bolted from Arohata Prison, has previously escaped from the jail. This time she used a dummy in her cell bed to fool guards before fleeing with another inmate.

Wepa, 31, and Patricia Ann Aldridge, 39, escaped from the Tawa prison north of Wellington on Monday night.

They were still on the run last night.

Wepa - who has a lizard tattoo on her face - is serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of her friend Caroline Gardiner in Porirua.

Aldridge has convictions for aggravated robbery and burglary, including a $51,000 smash and grab crime spree that involved six burglaries in four hours in the Manawatu region.