A convicted killer who ran over a woman after she tried to stop him as he was stealing her handbag has gone on the run after being released from prison on licence.
Mark Woolley, 52, was jailed for life in 2001 for the killing of costume designer Elizabeth Sherlock at Euston station in London. Police said he has not been seen since a probation meeting on January 31.
They warned the public not to approach him.
Woolley, a former heroin addict, was convicted at the Old Bailey of killing Sherlock after she chased his then girlfriend Jackie Moorehouse, who had stolen her bag. He was released from HMP Ranby in Nottinghamshire in November.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: “He was last seen on January 31 at a probation meeting in Hackney and breached his conditions on February 1.”
Woolley is described as a white man, 5ft 4ins (162.5cm), of slim build with greying hair. He has various tattoos and scars on his forehead, jaw and left ear.
Sherlock’s bag contained £20 (Dh101) in cash, a mobile phone and bank cards. It was snatched as she waited to catch a train to Wigan with her husband on Easter Sunday for her father’s birthday.
During the trial, the court heard Moorehouse got into Woolley’s car outside Euston station as Sherlock pursued her, shouting “stop that thief — she’s got my bag”.
Sherlock jumped on the car and, as it sped off, hung on to the wiper blades, pleading for her life. But the car did not stop.
Sherlock was thrown into the air in front of the car and fell as it ran her over and sped off. She died in hospital from multiple injuries.
Both Woolley and Moorehouse had scores of previous convictions, mainly for drug-related dishonesty, and stole to fuel their heroin habit.
The couple, from north London, had both denied murder.
Moorehouse, then 24, was cleared of the murder and manslaughter but jailed for three years after she admitted snatching the 42-year-old’s bag.
Jailing Woolley, the then recorder of London, judge Michael Hyam, said he had killed the successful, much loved and courageous woman while “eking out a worthless existence by thieving to raise money to buy your next heroin fix”.
