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Italian killer 'St Valentine's beast' arrested in France

Bartolomeo Gagliano, 55, a convicted Italian serial killer, was arrested on the French Rivierra after escaping from an Italian jail.

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A serial killer dubbed the 'St.Valentine’s Beast'  was captured by French police after going on the run from an Italian jail, reports Euronews.

Bartolomeo Gagliano is said to have hijacked a car after being allowed out to visit his mother on Tuesday.

A man was forced to drive him to Genoa, 170 kilometres from the border with France.

Police cautioned that the fugitive was “armed and dangerous” and told the public to alert authorities if he was seen.

French police arrested Gagliano in Menton, just over the Italian border, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Twitter.

The 55-year-old, who the courts have declared is mentally ill, earned his nickname in February 1989 when he killed his third victim on Valentine’s Day after breaking out of a psychiatric hospital.

Read more of this report with video from Euronews.