A detainee from Campsfield House detention centre in Kidlington is still on the run more than 11 months after absconding.

And yesterday neither the police nor the Home Office were able to say what was being done to recapture the man - who fled while out on a trip to the dentist.

The escape was never made public and only came to light in a new report by the Independent Monitoring Board.

The report also revealed problems with transport, which meant one detainee had taken a 100-mile round-trip to the dentist in Kidlington - via Heathrow airport.

Bill Mackeith, of the Campaign to Close Campsfield, said: "This just reinforces the argument for the place to be closed down."

No information about the missing man is known, only that the escape did not appear to be planned as all his possessions were left at Campsfield and he was not "suitably attired" for the escape.

It is understood the officer who chased the man slipped and broke his thigh bone.

Yesterday, the Oxford Mail asked Thames Valley Police, the Home Office and the firm which ran Campsfield at the time for details. None could be provided.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was one abscondee from the Campsfield removal centre in 2006.

"The Immigration and Naturalisation Directorate will work closely with all relevant agencies, including the police, to locate and apprehend the escapee."

And Thames Valley Police spokesman Victoria Bartlett said: "We were notified of this incident. An area search was carried out and the man was not found. Each person is risk-assessed by the Home Office and ,in this case, as agreed by existing protocol, the matter remains in the hands of the immigration department.

"If we received information on his whereabouts we would of course liaise with Immigration Department."

Neither GEO UK, which currently runs the centre, or GSL, the company GEO took over from in May 2006, could provide further details about the escape or any operation to track down the man.

Walter Macgowan, managing director of GEO, said: "During our management of the centre nobody has escaped so we would not be able to comment."

But GSL spokesman Liz Jones said without a name or specific date, neither of which were released in the IMB report, it would not be possible to provide information about the incident.