Andrew Chadfield, 21, was jailed for four years and nine months after he pushed an 89-year-old woman to the ground, fracturing her hip, as he snatched her handbag.
But less than six months into his sentence, on June 15, he disappeared from Kirkham open prison in Lancashire. He had been transferred there earlier from a young offenders' institution in Lancaster.
Greater Manchester Police learned that he was on the run late last week, after he was spotted by a member of the public who recognised him walking through Bury.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said they told Lancashire police at Blackpool Central, near the prison, that Chadfield had gone missing. But Greater Manchester Police say they were not informed even though he came from Bury.
Manhunt
Now detectives have launched a manhunt to try and track him down.
Kirkham Prison is an open prison and so security is less strict.
A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said all prisoners were carefully assessed before being sent there.
She said the prison service had contacted the police in Blackpool as soon as staff found him missing from his room. She said she could offer no explanation as to why they did not pass the information on to Greater Manchester Police.
No one was available for comment at Lancashire Police.
It is understood that police in Greater Manchester are furious that they were not told Chadfield was on the loose. One police source said: "This man has been walking about the streets of Bury unchallenged for nearly a fortnight without us knowing. It is an outrage that we were not told of his disappearance earlier.
"He should not have even been at that prison. This man is a violent individual who has prayed on the elderly and we need to know where he is."
A police spokesman said: "This was a particularly nasty attack on a vulnerable person and I would urge anyone who knows Chadfield's whereabouts to contact us so we can return him to prison to complete his sentence."
Norman Brennan of the Victims of Crime Trust said: "These are the type of offences that cause the fear factor that is felt by millions of elderly people. The sad reality is that the whole criminal justice system appears to be focussed on helping the offender whilst the victim's lives are devastated.
"It turns the justice system on its head when someone like this who is clearly a danger to the public after assaulting an elderly woman gets sent to prison and within six months he is able to walk straight out. What kind of punishment and deterrent is that?"
The elderly woman was attacked by Chadfield on Orpington Road in Bury in July last year. Her son, who does not want to be named said her life had not been the same since it happened.
He said the once independent woman had undergone surgery for a fractured hip soon after the attack and had recently had to have a hip replacement.
The 60-year-old accountant said: "I am not angry because that doesn't help, but I am surprised with an offence that like, that he was allowed to go to an open prison."
Anyone with information on Chadfield's whereabouts is asked to contact the Priority Crime Unit on 0161 856 0902 or 0161 872 5050, or to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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And had he not been recognised by a member of the public?!! Wonder how many unrecognised escaped prisoners are on the streets of Manchester at any given time not to mention the low lifes let out on bail by liberal judges.
I can't understand how they classify Kirkham as a prison. Prisoners are always escaping from there...