ESCAPED PRISONERS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 183, 1 May 1933, Page 7

ESCAPED PRISONERS

Stolen Motoir-car Found in Plantation ’ LARGE BODY OF POLICE OUT By Telegraph.—Press Association. Gisborne, April 30. The escape of two prisoners. Norman Alfred O’Meara, aged 36. and Wilken Ramsdon Avery, aged 25. from the Gisborne gaol appears to have been carefully planned. An ordinary table knife, with the aid of a thin strip of steel, was fashioned into a hacksaw, which cut tdirougli the bar of file cell window. The bar was then used to assist in overcoming the other obstacles. O’Meara got through the aperture of his cell, ami then set to work on the grill in front of Avery's cell. The pair then attempted to escape through the padded cell, but when the floors resisted their efforts they turned to a ‘door and a heavy iron gate leading from the exercise ground. They then smashed the lock of the door and picked the padlock of the gate. Blankets were laid on the ground to deaden the sound of falling iron or masonry. The first definite news of the prison escapees came to hand to-day when the police were informed that a car stolen from Gisborne by the men after break lug out of (die Gisborne gaol was found in a plantation at Otoko. about

25 miles from Gisborne oil the main north road. The ear was hidden behind a stack of wood stud discovered by a cowboy on Mr. Honey’s farm, who recognised it from the numbers broadcast last evening. Later it was reported that two men were seen walking along the railway line toward Motuhora. At Motuhora the two men, recognised from the descriptio. as escapees, were granted permission to sleep in a hut on Mr. Peddie’s property, but left early this morning. Large numbers of police are working from both the Motu and Opotiki end. combing the dense bush and hillsides in search of the escapees, but so far no trhee has been discovered