Oakley escaper captured

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 4

Oakley escaper captured

PA Auckland The second Oakley Hospital escaper, Steven John Forsythe, who is awaiting trial on a charge of murder, was recaptured last evening. The police were alerted by a man walking his dog and a jogger, who spotted Forsythe in Manurewa, south Auckland. 'Forsythe, aged 18, had been on the run since noon on Tuesday when he went over the wall of the hospital's maximum security wjng with another inmate, Clive Thomas Steven. I Steven. who has spent 10 years in institutions after being found unfit to plead on a murder charge, gave himself up on Wednesday even-

ing. The police, who had described both men as dangerous, yesterday made a radio appeal to Forsythe urging him to give himself up. After recapturing him last evening, they described Forsythe as extremely distressed, hungry, and tired. The police covered the Manurewa-Weymouth area yesterday after four positive sightings in 24 hours. They closed in after two reports of his trying to hitch a car ride at 7.15 p.m., and a constable and police dog found him hiding under a hedge. Forsythe will appear in the District Court at Otahuhu today, charged with escaping.