A nationwide hunt continued today for a serial sex attacker with Lancashire links who is wanted in connection with the murder of a pensioner.

Graeme Jarman, 47, who has been described an evil, cunning predator, is on the run following the brutal murder of a 77-year-old woman battered to death in her own home.

He went missing from his County Durham home shortly before Judith Richardson was found dead in Hexham, Northumberland, on August 19.

Detectives said he was a suspect in the murder investigation.

The former civil servant has spent time in jail for kidnap, rape, armed robbery and indecent assault.

Jarman was jailed for 15 years in 1993 at Preston Crown Court, ending a nationwide campaign of terror.

He carried a robbery kit that included a knife, gloves, rope and sticky tape.

He followed a 23-year-old woman to her home in St Annes and conned his way inside by suggesting he wished to rent an adjoining property.

Once inside her flat, he threw her on to a bed and produced a hunting knife, before gagging her with tape and binding her hands and ankles.

After Lancashire Police publicly named Jarman as the man responsible for the attack, he began travelling from one seaside resort to another, robbing building societies of more than £8,000 as he went.

Jarman was identified by police from fingerprints he left in the flat and eventually convicted of the robberies and indecent assault.

His mother, 71-year-old Irene Jarman, said yesterday: "Graeme you need to hand yourself in immediately at the nearest police station, it's the best thing you can do.

"You've handed yourself in before and you can do it again."

Jarman, who has boasted of being a psychopath, has not been seen at his home in the Delves Lane area of Consett since August 17.

Durham Constabulary circulated him as missing after he failed to appear in court on a shoplifting charge on August 23.

He was seen in Stockton-on-Tees on Friday, which is when Cleveland Police joined the search.

His details have been circulated nationwide.

Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, head of crime at Northumbria Police, said yesterday: "I would like to join Mrs Jarman in urging Graeme Jarman to contact police straight away as we need to find him without delay.

"We are also asking for the public's help to find him by contacting us immediately if they see anyone who looks like him or have any information that could help us locate him.

"I must stress that we are asking people not to approach him as he is a violent and dangerous man."

Northumbria Police has released images of Jarman getting on a bus in Stockton High Street, Cleveland, on Friday morning, August 26, shortly after 9am.

They said the registered sex offender had a history of violence and was considered a danger to the public.

Detective Superintendent Rob Coulson from Durham Constabulary, added: "We know that Mr Jarman travels around using the bus networks and frequents libraries, charity shops and bed and breakfasts.

"He is intelligent and articulate and likes to strike up conversations with people.

"He has recently shaved his head and sometimes wears hats which change his appearance."

Jarman is described as heavily built, of average height, clean shaven and with short dark hair.

He is known to travel throughout the North East.

A CCTV image released yesterday showed Jarman in Stockton-on-Tees town centre on Friday morning with a shaved head and wearing blue jeans, a light blue polo shirt with dark cuffs and collar and carrying a dark jacket.

Miss Richardson's body was discovered by police in the hallway of her stone-built terraced home, in St Wilfrid's Road, after her stolen handbag and some of its contents were found stuffed into a litter bin in Newcastle city centre, 25 miles away.

The leather handbag was found by a member of the public in a bin outside a charity shop in Clayton Street.

Police, believing they were dealing with a simple lost property or theft case, were confronted by Miss Richardson's battered body on the Friday evening.

A post-mortem examination showed she died from head injuries.

Police found a hammer in a plastic bag in the street near her home and have confirmed that was the murder weapon.

Anyone with information should ring 0191 375 2176 or 03456 043 043.