A VIOLENT Bradford prisoner who was on the run from an open jail for more than three weeks handed himself in to police last night.

Ian Stirzaker, who is serving a seven-and-half years sentence for beating a vulnerable man unconscious, failed to return to HMP Hatfield in Doncaster on Sunday, August 10, after being allowed out on day release.

The 35-year-old was jailed in July 2011 at Bradford Crown Court for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Darren Swan.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed Stirzaker handed himself into an unspecified Bradford police station at about 5.30pm and has now been taken to a closed prison in Leeds.