A bank robber wanted for violating his probation has been apprehended by US police after starring in a low-budget horror film using his own name.

Jason Stange, 44, had taken a role as a doctor who commits a “deranged act” in a film called Marla Mae.

Images of him appeared in a piece publicising the shooting of the film in a newspaper in Washington state.

Police agents recognised him and arrested him at a restaurant close to the film set.

Stange had pleaded guilty to an armed bank robbery in 2006 and was given a prison sentence of almost ten years.