London police nab inmate after daring daylight escape

POLICE in Britain yesterday nabbed an Irishman who made a daring daylight escape from a London prison over a week ago.

Eamon Donaghue had ditched his prison clothes and put on a prison officer’s uniform before calmly walking out of Wandsworth Prison.

The 27-year-old convict strolled out of the jail at lunchtime last Monday week and was on the run since yesterday.

London police scrambled a helicopter following the audacious escape. They warned members of the public not to approach Donaghue if they had seen him.

Officers widened their search throughout London after he failed to turn up locally.

Donaghue had relatives in Wimbledon and Streatham.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that Donaghue was arrested early yesterday morning, but would not give any further details.

Donaghue is serving three and half years for stealing a car and assaulting a police officer with it, causing injury. He was sentenced in February 2001.

A spokesman for the Prison Department of the Home Office said Donaghue was an absconder rather than an escapee, as he was officially allowed out of prison on licence.

Donaghue was cleaning out the prison officers’ mess hall when he got his hands on a prison officer’s uniform.

It is not known if Donaghue planned the escape, or if it was purely opportunistic.

“Before prisoners are put on temporary licence they are put through a risk assessment,” said the prison spokesman.

The escape is a serious breach of trust and Donaghue is likely to be disciplined. His temporary licence is sure to be revoked.

The Home Office spokesman said they would be carrying out an investigation into the circumstances of the escape.