A ROBBER who used to live in Somerset has escaped from jail.

Police are appealing to the public to help trace Robert Stevens, 58, who absconded from Leyhill Prison, Gloucestershire,

Stevens, who was reported mssing at 8.30pm on Sunday, is serving six and a half years for a series of commercial robberies in 2011.

He is known to live an itinerant lifestyle and may carry his few possessions in a rucksack.

He has in the past travelled extensively throughout the South-West, including Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and Dorset police force areas.

He has also lived in the Bristol, Bath, Weston, Taunton and Yeovil areas.

He has in the past used small B&Bs, as well as hostels and will also camp when accommodation was not available.

Stevens is described as white, 5ft 6ins tall, of medium build and clean-shaven with short grey hair.

He sometimes wears small rectangular-shaped glasses, which he often lifts on to his forehead.

Anyone spotting Robert Stevens is advised not to approach him but to contact police on 999, quoting Ref MP759/14.