A SERIAL killer who fled his Highland home for New Zealand has slipped back into the UK and is living in a south coast resort town.

Glasgow-born Archie ''Mad Dog'' McCafferty, 53, who killed four people in the 1970s and 1980s, has been found living in a housing association flat in Southsea.

He arrived back in Britain last week after being deported from New Zealand, where his wife and two children remain, for failing to declare his convictions to immigration authorities.

Spotted at the weekend, he appeared to be trying to disguise himself by pulling a baseball cap down over his face and wearing dark glasses. But his distinctive tattoos - he is reputed to have more than 200 - gave away his identity.

A Hampshire police spokesman said yesterday: ''We are fully aware of who is living here.''

Mr McCafferty was born in Scotland but moved to Australia at the age of 10. He later became one of the country's most notorious killers when he stabbed a vagrant to death and shot two others in 1973.

He claimed his drink and drug-fuelled killing spree was sparked by the accidental death of his six-week-old son.

At his trial, he said his son had told him in a dream that if he killed seven people he would be reincarnated and his crimes became known as the ''kill seven murders''. Three psychiatrists agreed that he should never be freed.

A further 14 years were added to his life sentence in 1981, after he was convicted of the manslaughter of a fellow prisoner.

Despite living outside Scotland for most of his life, he was forced to return when he was released from prison in 1997, because he had never taken Australian citizenship.

He was housed initially in the Sighthill area of Glasgow, before moving to Leith and then South Queensferry.

In 1998, he was placed on probation and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service for threatening to kill two police officers.

He left Scotland 18 months ago, claiming he had been driven from his home in Drumnadrochit, near Loch Ness, by press intrusion.

Police in New Zealand said they were alerted to his presence after Mandy Queen, his wife, arrived in the country.

Mr McCafferty was arrested at a house in Kawerau, a remote township on the North Island, for failing to declare his criminal record to authorities, and flown from Auckland to Heathrow accompanied by two police officers.

He is believed to have moved straight to Southsea - to a flat 100 yards from a murder scene.

His apartment was surrounded by police officers searching the area at the weekend, but a police source said Mr McCafferty was not being linked with the murder.