TWO more patients went on the run from Calderstones Hospital this week, it was revealed today.

The pair were returned to the West Drive medium-secure unit, which houses sex offenders and arsonists as well as other patients, at the Whalley hospital within 90 minutes of being reported missing, a Calderstones spokesman said.

He added: "Calderstones NHS Trust confirms the unauthorised absence of two clients -- one of whom had been admitted through the courts -- from West Drive on Wednesday at approximately 8.45pm.

"Staff were escorting clients on a walk around the grounds, which is an essential part of clients' rehabilitation and is only undertaken after the risk has been assessed by the clinical team. Both clients ran away from their escorts and left the hospital.

"The Trust's operational procedures, which have been in place for years, were immediately put in place and both clients were returned within one and a half hours.

"They were found within a mile of the hospital.

"In our opinion there was never any immediate and grave risk to the public."

A police spokesman said officers were alerted but not needed and the patients were returned to Calderstones without the force's help.

One is believed to have been picked up on the A59 Clitheroe bypass.

The incident is the latest in a catalogue at the hospital highlighted by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, including:

January 2001: The NHS Trust admitted that three patients had gone missing in the previous 12 months. All were found within two hours.

February: Peter Loftus, 34, pleaded guilty to wounding fellow patient Kevin Tomlinson at the hospital.

March: A patient was found 35 miles away in a pub in Halifax.

June: A patient -- believed to be a convicted arsonist -- absconded from Burnley General Hospital and was found nearly an hour later with a lighter. Trust bosses admitted another patient had gone missing for an hour.

July: Andrew Sutcliffe, 18, went missing on a home visit to Manchester. His whereabouts are still a mystery.