Escaped Dovegate prisoner who fled to 'test jail security' arrested in Nottingham
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Version 0 of 1. An armed robber who escaped from prison “just to test out the security” has been arrested in Nottingham, despite having apparently fled to Spain. Haroon Ahmed, 26, walked out of HMP Dovegate, a privately run maximum security jail in Staffordshire, last Wednesday, reportedly with a group who had come to visit him. Police launched a manhunt but the Sunday Mirror said it tracked him down in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. “In my own mind I wanted to test out the security,” the paper quoted him as saying. “I thought, I’ll give it a go – and walked out the door. That’s how easy it was. I just kept on walking.” Ahmed was finally arrested and taken back into custody in the Nottingham area on Monday morning, a Staffordshire police statement said. Ahmed, from Derby, said he was worried for his safety if he returned to the UK. He claimed his family was being harassed because of his escape. Officers involved in the search arrested his brother, Majeed Ahmed, 25, on Thursday and charged him with helping a prisoner escape. Staffordshire police had said they were investigating all lines of inquiry and would not confirm or deny claims Ahmed had fled to Spain. They had warned members of the public not to approach him. Ahmed was given an indeterminate sentence in 2008 after being convicted of robbing a petrol station in Derby. He and an accomplice took boxes of cigarettes and £500 from the till while holding the cashier at knifepoint. His escape led to criticism of the regime at Dovegate, a category B jail for prisoners considered likely to escape. It is operated by Serco, which runs services from prisons to public transport. Ahmed should have faced at least three locked doors on his route to freedom, the Independent reported last week. “He left the visits hall with his visitors and just walked out,” a former Dovegate warder, who preferred not to be named, told the paper. Jason Coghlan, who Ahmed sought legal advice from after absconding, according to the Sunday Mirror, told the paper: “He was in custody because he is inherently dishonest, yet they have allowed him to walk out the front door. I want them and the governor to accept that failure.” |