DANGEROUS MAN ESCAPES

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1931, Page 7

DANGEROUS MAN ESCAPES

WAS PATIENT IN HOSPITAL THEFTS FROM NEARBY HOUSE. SERVING TERM FOR BURGLARIES. GRIME AT DUNEDIN RECALLED'. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, December 21. A man serving a long prison sentence, and regarded by the police’ as a dangerous criminal, Thomas William Wilson, aged 26. escaped last night from the Auckland hospital, whence he was removed on Thursday from the prison suffering from internal trouble. He was in bed at 10 o’clock and ‘about 10.30 a house adjoining the hospital grounds was entered, presumably by the escapee, and a pair of grey trousers and a black and white check coat were stolen from a balcony room where two young men were sleeping. Wilson is sft. 7in. in height, with a fresh complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. His right, eye is nearly closed by a cataract. He was sentenced at Dunedin on June 18 to a total of five years’ hard labour followed by reformative detention. Mr. Justice Kennedy then said that in six months Wilson had stolen goods worth £4-791, of which £-3000 in jewellery had not been recovered, and the proceeds of which, most likely, he hoped to enjoy when released. The judge said he regarded the prisoner as callous, brutal and dangerous.