The parents of fugitive former royal aide Jane Andrews asked a taxi driver to take them and their daughter back home before she was recaptured by police, it has been reported.
Cabbie Darren Auckland drove Andrews' elderly parents and brother from Grimsby to Maidstone, Kent, where he unwittingly picked up the dishevelled convicted murderer from a church graveyard more than 24 hours after she fled a nearby open prison, it was reported.
He declined to drive them all back to Lincolnshire and instead took them to a nearby Premier Inn hotel where Andrews was found by police, the Sun newspaper said.
She is now back in custody at a more secure jail. Police thanked people involved in the search for Andrews, 42, adding that the people she was with were not arrested but were "spoken to" by officers. Mr Auckland, 40, said he felt for the convicted killer's family - father David, 82, mother June, 79, and brother Jonathan, 44.
"I'm no hero," he said. "I don't take any delight in any of this. They (the parents) don't deserve any grief. They are lovely people. I hope things turn out OK for them."
Andrews, who was jailed for life in 2001 after bludgeoning and stabbing her boyfriend to death when he refused to marry her, is believed to slept rough after absconding from East Sutton Park open prison near Maidstone on Sunday evening.
She had only been in the hotel for a short time before being found by officers. An inquiry into how she managed to escape from East Sutton jail has been launched by the Prison Service. Andrews was only eight and a half years into her sentence when she was moved there a week ago.
She was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in jail after a jury at the Old Bailey accepted the prosecution case that she killed wealthy businessman Tom Cressman at the home they shared in Fulham, south west London.
After being recaptured, Andrews, who worked as a dresser for the Duchess of York for nine years until 1997, was taken to a more secure "closed" prison. The Prison Service said recaptured absconders faced either a criminal prosecution for escaping or an internal adjudication in jail in front of a visiting judge.
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Mr Cressman's brother Rick has 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. Justice Secretary Jack Straw has agreed to a meeting with Mr Cressman to discuss the matter.
