Escaped prisoner did not lock gardaí in cell and help others flee, says sergeant

GARDAÍ yesterday confirmed they were investigating how a man escaped from custody in a garda station last week.

The man is being hunted by officers attached to Cavan Garda Station. However, a spokesman for the station rejected reports that the fugitive locked officers into a cell and helped other prisoners to escape.

“A man escaped from custody last Thursday,” confirmed Sergeant Frank Harten. “But reports that he facilitated the escape of others and locked gardaí in a cell is totally without foundation.”

He confirmed that the man (a local 24-year-old) was still at large and the subject of a manhunt.

It was reported yesterday that the man had locked two gardaí into a cell and then freed three other prisoners, two men and a woman.

Sgt Harten said this was “absolutely not” the case. He declined to give details as to how the man escaped and said the matter was under investigation.

The fugitive had appeared before Cavan District Court earlier on Thursday to face public order and road traffic charges. On return to prison he escaped.

Sgt Harten said they were not naming the prisoner at the moment. He declined to comment as to whether the fugitive was still suspected of being in the country or had gone abroad.

Last month, a man escaped from a Tipperary courthouse after he managed to slip out of his handcuffs.

Richard Feyne, a 28-year-old from Clonmel, had been escorted by gardaí from Limerick Prison to Clonmel District Court in relation to charges of aggravated burglary.

In January, convicted armed robber Stephen Walsh went on the run after escaping from prison officers during a visit to St James’s Hospital in Dublin

The 26-year-old from Ballymun, north Dublin, had been brought from Portlaoise Prison for a routine medical procedure.

Last December, violent armed robber Ian Stewart escaped while on a trip to his dying mother at a Dublin hospice.

The Tallaght man was re-arrested four days later.