GardaÍ have launched a manhunt after a murderer serving a life sentence failed to return to prison after being given permission to go on a day trip.

Brian Kiely (51) from Finglas in west Dublin, failed to report back to Mountjoy Prison on 29 April after been granted temporary day release to visit members of his family.

Kiely was sentenced to a life term in the UK in 1979 after murdering a homosexual drag queen.

The fugitive and an accomplice met the man in a café and tricked him into going to a flat nearby where they stabbed him.

In September 1979, Kiely was given a life sentence at the British Central Criminal Court for murder, robbery, attempted robbery and possession of imitation firearms.

By 1990, he had been transferred to an open prison in advance of his release when he escaped and went on a robbery spree.

He was recaptured two years later and in February 1993 was sentenced to a further 12 years at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex for armed robbery.

Kiely was granted repatriation back to Ireland in 1997 and was sent to the Midlands Prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

The following year he was on a supervised visit to his elderly father in his family home in Finglas when he jumped out a back window and escaped.

It was over three years before he was recaptured.

The Parole Board recently recommended that Kiely be sent to the training unit at Mountjoy to take part in "resocialisation" day trips aimed at preparing him for his eventual release.

Although prisoners serving life sentences are only released at the behest of the Minister for Justice, sources say that it is unlikely that Kiely would have served more than another year in jail and are baffled that he has vanished again.

Gardaí across Dublin have been put on alert and have yet to find any trace of the man.

A source said: "He has now been missing for 12 days and the longer he is away the worse it will be for him. If it wasn't for the fact that he has escaped twice before, Kiely would have been freed a long time ago. He has been in jail for 23 of the past 28 years.

"He is a foolish man to have gone AWOL. In all likelihood he could have been permanently released within months but this means he will most likely have another few years added to his sentence."