Prisoner escaped to get married

AN ESCAPED prisoner denied permission to marry is believed to be on his honeymoon abroad after evading a nationwide search for him.

The Irish prison service confirmed yesterday that Jonathan Ayton, an inmate of Castlerea Prison, made a daring escape on, April 1.

Mr Ayton, who was serving two consecutive five-year sentences at the Co Roscommon jail, gave prison officers the slip while being treated for a serious upper arm wound at Galway University Hospital.

A spokesperson for the prison service said that he made his escape through a toilet window while attached to a saline drip.

According to prison sources, the injury was self-inflicted and was staged to get him into a hospital so that he could escape and run off to marry his fiancée. He and his partner are believed to be now en route to South America.

Earlier reports that the gardaí had not been informed of the escape were wrong, according to the prison service spokesperson.

"The gardaí at Mill Street station were alerted and the Police Service of Northern Ireland were also informed because the prisoner had Northern connections," the spokesperson said, adding that once a prisoner escaped it was no longer their responsibility but a matter for the gardaí. The Garda Press Office confirmed that they had been told about the escape.

Mr Ayton was refused temporary release to get married outside of prison and had also been denied permission to marry in jail.

According to sources, a check had been made of Mr Ayton's cell some weeks prior to his escape. Two mobile phones were found concealed in an overhead light and in a toilet area.

A garda spokesperson said the escape was under investigation.

The escape is the latest in a number of security breaches within the prison service.

Late last month, two rounds of ammunition were found in Limerick prison.

Two 0.38 bullets for a Magnum handgun were found lying on the ground outside an inmate's cell in the A wing of the jail.

The prisoner, who is serving a sentence for firearms offences, survived an assassination attempt in Limerick three years ago.

Ten days before, two officers at Limerick received lacerations to their faces and hands from an inmate wielding a weapon made from a sharpened toothbrush and metal.

Almost 80 inmates have absconded from Loughan House, a low-security prison in Co Cavan, in the past three years.

The prison has a maximum capacity of 85.