Search launched for 'dangerous' man

A manhunt has been launched for a missing man in Surrey, who has been described as "potentially dangerous".

Laszlo Varga, 68, was reported missing from a mental health community facility in Haven Drive, Epsom in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

He had left the facility just before 8am on Tuesday, telling them that he was visiting friends in Kensington, but he did not return at 6pm, as expected.

Mr Varga was released on life license in 2005. He had been jailed for the murder of a manager of an employment agency, whom he stabbed in a disagreement in 1968.

Surrey Police said that his license has now been revoked and he is now wanted on recall to prison.

Police said that Mr Varga suffers from a condition that makes him potentially violent without medication. Side effects of his failure to take his medication are excessive salivation and shaking, which he tries to hide by putting his hands in his pockets.

He has also impersonated a journalist, calling himself Lou Grant.

Mr Varga is known to frequent Epsom and the wider Surrey and London areas. He has also expressed a wish to return to Hungary - his native country - or to visit the USA.

Police have distributed his details to ports and airports.

Mr Varga is described as a white man, roughly 5 feet 8 inches in height, and of slim build. He is clean-shaven, with short receding hair that is grey at the side and brown eyes. He does not wear glasses, although a photograph in a passport - obtained in his Hungarian nationality - shows him wearing them.

When he left the community facility he was wearing a red shirt, light-coloured trousers and a beige suit jacket. He was carrying three bags: a dark-coloured sports holdall, a black laptop-sized bag and a brown laptop-sized bag.

Detective Inspector Mark Daughters, who is leading the inquiry, said: "We are taking the direct approach of warning people as we believe Mr Varga to be potentially dangerous. Surrey Police officers and colleagues in other forces are working very hard to locate him. I would ask people who see a man matching his description not to approach, but to call us immediately on 999."

(KMcA/JM)