An inquiry into how former royal aide Jane Andrews managed to escape prison has been launched, the Prison Service has said.

Andrews, 42, who was jailed for life after bludgeoning and stabbing her boyfriend to death when he refused to marry her, was caught by police in a hotel room after going on the run for two days.

An inquiry will now be carried out to find out how she absconded from East Sutton Park open prison, near Maidstone, Kent, while Justice Secretary Jack Straw will also meet her victim's brother amid criticism about the fact she was allow to be kept in an open prison in the first place.

Andrews was only eight and a half years into her sentence when she was moved there a week ago.

East Sutton Park Prison in Kent, where Jane Andrews was serving a life sentence Full Image

Rick Cressman also demanded that her eligibility for release on parole in 2012 now be re-examined and said the affair exposed "incompetence" in the Ministry of Justice and Mr Straw "should be hanging his head in shame".

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "The Justice Secretary Jack Straw has agreed to a meeting with Mr Cressman and takes the impact of crime on victims and their families very seriously." The spokesman said they were not being drawn on a timescale for the meeting.

Kent Police said that Andrews, who was convicted of murdering wealthy businessman Tom Cressman in 2001, was found by officers at the Premier Inn in Hollingbourne, near Maidstone, just a few miles from the prison.

She was with three people reported to be her elderly parents, David and June, and brother Jonathan.

Police said the people she was with were not arrested but have all been spoken to by officers.

Andrews, who worked as a dresser for the Duchess of York for nine years until 1997, is believed to have been sleeping rough since absconding from the jail, and had only been in the hotel for a short time before she was found by officers shortly after 3am.