Escaped prisoner 'wore disguise to visit dying mother'

An on-the-run criminal donned a disguise and visited his dying mother yesterday just days after he escaped from prison officers at the same hospice, it was claimed today.

Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello told the Dáil of the latest incident today and quipped that there was a “little touch of the Keystone Cops” about the whole affair.

Ian Steward – who is halfway through a 10-year jail term for assault and robbery – escaped from three prison officers and jumped out the window of Our Lady’s Hospice in Harold’s Cross on Sunday last.

The 27-year-old is believed to have made his getaway on a bicycle.

Gardaí have since mounted a full-scale search and warned the public not to approach him.

Mr Costello said today that Steward was “be-wigged and bedecked in disguise” when he paid a visit to his terminally-ill mother in the hospice at 7.30am yesterday morning.

Mr Costello also queried how the prisoner had been given compassionate leave “when he had so little of his sentence served”.

“Surely the prison officers would have been able to position themselves around the room so that the prisoner should not and could not have escaped.”

Speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Minister Brian Lenihan admitted that there was “always an element of risk” when transporting prisoners on temporary release escorts.

“However it is a very rare occurrence for prisoners to attempt to escape such escorts. It’s a question of managing the risks involved.”

Mr Lenihan said that Stewart visited his mother on Saturday last but was also allowed out to see her on Sunday as her condition had deteriorated.

“The prisoner should have been handcuffed at all times,” he said.

The Dáil heard an investigation is being carried out by the governor of Mountjoy Prison into the incident and will be forwarded to the director general of the Prison Service and the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.

McDowell was unable to comment further in case he prejudiced the investigation, Minister Lenihan said.

But he explained that initial reports suggested that that the prisoner slipped his handcuffs. An officer injured his ankle while in pursuit.