Convicted killer escapes mental health unit

Lerone Michael Boye was jailed for stabbing 17-year-old Kelvin Chibueze to death at a birthday party

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Lerone Michael Boye, 27, as Police in Hackney are appealing for assistance in tracing him after he absconded from a mental health centre in Homerton today. (Metropolitan Police )

A convicted murderer who was jailed for life for stabbing a teenager to death is being hunted by police after fleeing a mental health unit in east London.

Police are appealing for help to find Lerone Michael Boye, 27, who escaped from the John Howard Centre in Kenworthy Road, Homerton, at around 2pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Members of the public have been warned not to approach Boye but call 999.

He was handed a life sentence last December for the murder of 17-year-old Kelvin Chibueze and told he must serve a minimum of 28 years, after fatally stabbing the teenager at the Arteflex Club in Ilford High Road on 15 August 2011.

Kelvin was chased out of a birthday party and attacked with glass and broken bottles.

Boye's three co-accused are also serving life sentences.

Boye is described as black, about 5ft 10in and of slim build with short black hair and a goatee beard. He has a horseshoe-shaped scar on his right cheek.

He was last seen wearing grey jogging bottoms and a grey or blue sweatshirt with a grey vest over the top.

He is known to have links to the Ilford area.

Anyone with any information about Boye's whereabouts can also call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

In a statement, East London NHS Foundation Trust said they have launched an immediate internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding his escape.

It said: "We have reviewed our security and processes as a matter of urgency.

"The Trust is working with the police to assist them with their investigation."