The trial of a health worker accused of helping a convicted killer escape from a mental health unit is due to start today.

Dean Ablakwa, 29, of north London, denies helping Michael Lerone Boye, 27, abscond from the John Howard Centre in Homerton on October 16.

Boye was jailed for a minimum of 28 years in December 2012 after he chased and stabbed to death 17 year-old Kelvin Chibueze outside the Arteflex nightclub in High Road, Ilford, on August 15 2011.

Scotland Yard and Crimestoppers offered a combined reward of £15,000 for Boye’s capture, but the killer remained at large for more than 100 days before police found him in Elderberry Close, Chigwell, on January 21.  

Ablakwa, charged with conspiracy to assist an offender to escape will stand trial alongside Boye who is charged with being unlawfully at large.

The duo will appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court today.