LUNATIC FREE FOR 35MIN

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28249, 10 April 1957, Page 12

LUNATIC FREE FOR 35MIN

Dash To Wooded Gully

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 9.

Bryan William Hayman, who was acquitted of the attempted murder of* his employer six years ago on the ground of insanity, escaped from custody in the grounds of the Auckland Mental Hospital at Avondale for 35 minutes this afternoon. His liberty ended at 2.56 p.m. when two warders pounced on him as he hid in a gully in the hospital grounds. Police had surrounded the gully. Hayman offered no resistance. Hayman previously escaped from Avondale on December 30, 1954. He spent more than a year working on a Putaruru farm, and was recaptured at Hamilton .on. January 15, 1956. Today, as Hayman was on his way to collect a paint pot from a nearby building, accompanied by a hospital attendant, he suddenly pushed the attendant out of the way and dashed off toward a wooded gully at the back of the grounds. Within a few minutes five patrol cars crammed with police were on their way to the scene. Reinforcements were on their way when the news of Hayman’s recapture was received. At no stage was Hayman outside the hospital grounds. On February 27, 1951, Hayman was acquitted on the ground of insanity on a charge of attempting to murder Archibald Wilson at Mangere. It was alleged that Hayman, who worked on Wilson’s farm, Kit his employer on the head with a hammer several times.