Prison escapees used contractor’s tools

The two killers who cut their way out of a maximum-security US prison apparently used tools stored there by contractors before returning them to their toolboxes after each night’s work, a prosecutor said.

District attorney Andrew Wylie also said that Joyce Mitchell, the prison tailoring shop instructor charged with helping the men escape, had agreed to pick them up in her car but backed out at the last minute because she still loved her husband and felt guilty for participating.

“Basically, when it was go-time and it was the actual day of the event, I do think she got cold feet and realised: ‘What am I doing?’ ” said Wylie.

“Reality struck. She realised that the grass wasn’t greener on the other side.”

Wylie said there was no evidence the escapees, Richard Matt and David Sweat, had a ‘plan B’ once the getaway driver backed out, and no vehicles have been reported stolen in the area.

That has led searchers to believe the men are still near Clinton Correctional Facility in New York state.

At the same time, New York governor Andrew Cuomo cautioned that the convicts could even be in Mexico by now. Wylie said it apparently took a long time for the killers to complete their plan, working between 12am and 5am over many nights.

“They had access to other tools left in the facility by contractors and were able to use those tools and put them back so nobody would notice,” the prosecutor said.