Japan police nab convict after underwear jailbreak

London -  A prisoner, who escaped from a Japanese jail in his underwear, has been recaptured, but not before he treated himself to a meal, a beer and a new set of clothes.

Chinese national Li Guolin, who clambered over a prison wall to freedom dressed in only his white underwear, became the first prisoner to escape from a Japanese jail in two decades and the subject of a huge manhunt, with his face appearing on every TV news bulletin and on the Internet, the Daily Mail reported.

But while the hunt was going on for the man who was serving 23 years for attempted murder and theft, the white underpants-clad Li found himself some clothes after breaking into a house not far from the Hiroshima prison.

Then he had some food and enjoyed a beer before heading out into the street.

He was less than a mile from the prison, walking near a primary school, when he was spotted by a police officer patrolling the area.

When approached, he offered no resistance and was taken back to prison.

A police source said Li probably realised he had little chance of staying hidden and the bitterly cold weather - with temperatures around 4C - would have been no incentive to remain on the run.

More than 500 police were involved in the hunt, with officers being posted outside schools and others patrolling the streets.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the government was sorry for the security lapse, which had occurred when Li used builders’ scaffolding to scale the wall.

“We apologise for troubling the area’s residents. We will thoroughly review the case to prevent a similar incident,” he said.