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| Two men escape prison van in Salford | Two men escape prison van in Salford |
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| Two men are on the run after being sprung from a prison van in Greater Manchester, police say. | Two men are on the run after being sprung from a prison van in Greater Manchester, police say. |
| The van they were travelling in was attacked shortly after 9am on Tuesday on Regent Road, Salford, a main road into Manchester around half a mile from the city's crown court and Strangeways prison. It is understood the men were en route to court to be sentenced for armed robbery. Witnesses said that five men with balaclavas ambushed the van. Pictures showed the vehicle, owned by the private security firm GEOAmey, with its windows smashed. | |
| Police said two men were freed from the vehicle and they have deployed large numbers of officers to the area in a bid to recapture the prisoners. | |
| A witness told the BBC he saw three masked men in a dark green car drive across the carriageway into the side of the prison van. The Saab car was later abandoned about 150 yards from the prison van in the opposite carriageway. | |
| The witness said: "I called the police and then I could just hear the smashing, the screams, everything that was happening. I looked back because I could hear some more shouts and there were some men running towards me so I sprinted as fast as I could into the estate. I was pretty scared to be honest." | |
| Another eyewitness said five men were seen running to a nearby parked car which they drove off and then ditched before running into a housing estate. One man was also seen without a helmet on the back of a motorbike as it was ridden off at high speed from the scene. | |
| Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan said: "To reassure those that live nearby, there is a significant police presence in the area. At this stage we do not believe that there is any ongoing threat to the community and we would appeal to anyone who has any information to contact the police as soon as possible." | Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan said: "To reassure those that live nearby, there is a significant police presence in the area. At this stage we do not believe that there is any ongoing threat to the community and we would appeal to anyone who has any information to contact the police as soon as possible." |
| In 2011, two Liverpool gangsters were freed in a similar attack on a prison van just off the same stretch of road. Tony Downes and Kirk Bradley escaped in an ambush as they were being taken from Strangeways jail to their trial at Liverpool crown court. They were later caught in the Netherlands and returned to the UK after being sentenced in their absence to minimum jail terms of 22 years. | In 2011, two Liverpool gangsters were freed in a similar attack on a prison van just off the same stretch of road. Tony Downes and Kirk Bradley escaped in an ambush as they were being taken from Strangeways jail to their trial at Liverpool crown court. They were later caught in the Netherlands and returned to the UK after being sentenced in their absence to minimum jail terms of 22 years. |
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