How Donal Donnelly escaped prison and escaped capture for 36 years

When Donal Donnelly escaped from a Belfast prison, 12,000 men were sent to capture him but despite their efforts he remained free for 36 years writes Jonathan deBurca Butler.

As sleet and wind slashed across the Belfast sky and Wren Boy revellers donned their ghoulish wicker hats and masks, Donal Donnelly cut his way through the last remaining iron bars of his prison cell window.

At the age of 16 Donal was secretary of the Omagh branch of Sinn Féin and after being  arrested and interned without trial he was then jailed for 10 years.