A CESSNOCK jail inmate who spent less than seven hours on the run after allegedly finding a staff member's keys and escaping on Wednesday is back behind bars.
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Police launched a manhunt for Vaughan Grimston, 30, after he was discovered missing from Cessnock Correctional Centre about 11.15am on Wednesday.
The Newcastle Herald understands that Grimston, who was being held in minimum security at the Lindsay Street facility, was undertaking grounds maintenance duty when he found a set of key that had been dropped by a prison staff member.
He then allegedly took a car from the jail and disappeared.
Police believed Grimston could have been heading towards the Central Coast or Sydney, where he had connections, but he was arrested in King Street, Cessnock - a distance of about three kilometres from the jail - at about 6pm on Wednesday.
He did not enter pleas to charges of escaping lawful custody, stealing a motor vehicle and resisting arrest or apply for bail in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday.
