Escaped armed robber Andrew Ivison was back behind bars last night thanks to an Oxford Mail reader.

Police swooped on The Black Boy pub, in Headington, yesterday after a tip-off and found Ivison - who four days ago wandered out of Spring Hill Prison - finishing off a pint of beer.

He had been transferred to the Buckinghamshire open prison, near Grendon Underwood, just two weeks earlier, after initially being sent to Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, to serve a six-year sentence for robbing shops.

Police yesterday appealed for help to find Ivison and his face was printed on our front page yesterday and on Oxford Mail posters put up across the city, pictured right.

Officers - who had been searching Ivison's old haunts in Barton - switched the hunt to Headington after he was spotted waiting for a bus in London Road.

Other units were called in, along with the police helicopter.

When Ivison was arrested at the Old High Street pub, at 2.30pm, he offered no resistance to officers, said police spokesman Tim Wiseman.

Supt Jim Trotman, Oxford's police area commander, added: "I would like to thank the public for assisting us by providing the information to get this man back behind bars so rapidly and I would also like to thank the Oxford Mail for their assistance in this matter.

"We deployed a large number of officers in the hunt for this man - officers who were taken away from dealing with their normal duties.

"However, we're glad that he will soon be back in prison, in order to complete his sentence.

"When he does get released we hope he has decided to go straight, because we will be on his case straight away if not - it's up to him."

Ivision will not be returned to Spring Hill, but will be sent to a secure Category C prison, a Home Office spokesman said.

He added: "We always take into consideration a prisoner's past record before recommending an open prison.

"It would be unlikely a prisoner with this kind of record would be recommended for an open prison again." Ivison was last seen at Spring Hill at 11.30pm on Friday, but was not present during roll-call the next morning.

The alarm was raised in Oxford after he was seen in Hunter Close, Cowley, at 7.45am on Saturday.

Ivison was jailed in March last year, after admitting robbing a Co-op shop, in Banbury Road, Kidlington, armed with an iron bar, and attempting to rob the Costcutter store, in Marston, Oxford, while brandishing two knives.

He also asked for 39 other offences, including two robberies, to be taken into consideration when he was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court.

A year ago Ivison told the Oxford Mail he planned to get a qualification while in prison and go straight when he was freed.