Escaped prisoners still at large

Two young men, who made a dramatic escape from garda custody on Wednesday afternoon, were still the subject of a manhunt last night.

The men, aged in their late teens and early 20s, are cousins from Limerick City.

They made their escape as they were being brought by gardaí from the local district court to Limerick Prison, at lunchtime.

As they were brought to the prison on remand, the pair, who were handcuffed, ran from gardaí and were “still at large” last night.

“The ERU (Emergency Response Unit) is out looking for them. It could even be a couple of weeks before they surface. They’ll pop their heads up in the end though. They’re most likely hiding out in houses around the place,” remarked a garda source yesterday.

A garda helicopter was patrolling Limerick City into the early hours of yesterday morning.

The aircraft was spotted hovering over St Mary’s Park and parts of Corbally at 2.30am, before moving to the south side of Limerick to cover the Ballysimon Road, Southill and Ballinacurra Weston.

It’s understood that gardaí may have been acting on intelligence on the possible movements of the men.

“The garda chopper doesn’t come down to us in Limerick as much as it used to do because of cutbacks in the force and because the city has been quieter of late. But you can be sure they were down for those two,” a garda source said yesterday.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the men can contact Roxboro Road gardaí on 061-214340 or the Garda Confidential Hotline on 1800-666-111.