ESCAPED PRISONER FOUND IN COAL SHIPS LIFEBOAT

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 August 1948, Page 5

ESCAPED PRISONER FOUND IN COAL SHIPS LIFEBOAT

Located hiding in a lifeboat on the collier, s.s. Kartigi, which was berthed at Westport, a young convict who escaped a month ago from prison at Auckland and again from Westport gaol on Tuesday, was re-arrested about 5 o’clock on Saturday afternoon. He is Russell David Alexander Blackburn, who was serving a sentence for breaking and entering. Blackburn had only been captured a matter of hours when he gained his release from the Westport lockup last Tuesday and. though a close watch was kept on the various access roads, no sign of him was found. Similarly a search of the wharves and vessels in port was unsuccessful, until on Saturday it was discovered that the wanted man was hiding on the Kartigi. It is understood that the prisoner had been hiding on the Kartigi for about 27 hours before his arrest, and prior to this period, he had been hiding in the town itself. When he appeared in the Police Court at Westport this morning, Blackburn admitted a charge of escaping from lawful custody at Westport and was remanded to the Christchurch Supreme Court for sentence. The charge on which he was. first-arrested, that of escaping from lawful custody at Auckland in June, was adjourned sine die.