The granddaughter of man who had his throat slashed by a robber has launched a campaign to stop violent criminals serving their sentences in open prisons, after his attacker absconded last week.

Lindsay McFarlane, who lives in Romford but holidays regularly in Sheerness, set up the petition after Sabul Miah absconded last Thursday.

Miah, 39, was given two life sentences in 2003 for violent knife attacks on pensioners, including Lindsay’s grandfather, George Rowe.

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He escaped from HMP Stanford Hill On Thursday October 23 and was arrested on suspicion of failing to surrender to custody five days later.

Ms McFarlane said: “The feeling, those few days, it was reliving the attack, the trial all over again.

“It’s not fair for any other family to go through what we went through. It’s horrendous to find out we could have been walking amongst him.”

Miah was held in the same category D jail as Michael Wheatley, known as the Skull Cracker, who absconded in May.

The 55-year-old was serving 13 life sentences for a string of brutal raids on banks and spent four days on the run.

Ms McFarlane has already gained more than 800 signatures on an online petition and will be gathering a paper version on Sheerness high street during the weekend.

She added: “It wasn’t even front page news on the national newspapers. This shows how frequently this must be happening. This is not acceptable.

“These are violent criminals. They are not petty criminals. They should not be given the opportunity to be a part of society in the first place.”

Video: Lindsay McFarlane has launched a peition to prevent violent criminals serving time in open prisons

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said before he was re-captured: "Public protection is our top priority and we have tightened the eligibility for open prisons, following a comprehensive review.

"It is clear that open prisons and temporary licences are important tools in rehabilitating long-term offenders , but they will not be used at the expense of public safety.

"Absconds have reached record lows under this Government — falling by more than 80% in the last 10 years — and more than 99% of releases on temporary licence continue to pass without incident, but we have not been complacent and have made major changes to tighten the system."