Killer starved himself in plot to escape prison
A CONVICTED killer who escaped from custody six months ago fooled prison staff into believing he was seriously ill by deliberately losing up to four stone in weight, it has been revealed.
Shaun Walmsley, 28, was serving a 30-year prison term for murder when he was helped to escape by two armed men during a hospital visit in Liverpool in February. It has now emerged that he starved himself for three months in order to convince the prison authorities that he was seriously ill.
Using mobile phones smuggled into the prison, Walmsley, a gangland drug dealer, was able to plan his escape with associates on the outside.
Walmsley had been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years, after being convicted of the murder of Anthony Duffy, 33, who was lured to a street near Aintree racecourse and repeatedly stabbed in May 2014.
Police believe Walmsley began planning his escape after an appeal against the severity of his sentence was rejected late last year.
After secretly starving himself, Walmsley shed four stone in weight, fooling the medical staff at HMP Liverpool into believing he was seriously ill. As part of his treatment he was referred to specialists at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool
While he was at the hospital, a security lapse allowed him to discover the date of his follow-up appointment, giving him the opportunity to organise his escape.
Despite his gangland connections, Walmsley was transferred to hospital in a minicab, accompanied by three prison guards.
As he was leaving the hospital two masked men, armed with a machine gun and a machete, jumped from a gold-coloured Volvo. They threatened the guards, who released Walmsley and the gang fled in the Volvo.
Police believe he switched to a second car, which took him to an address in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.
He is then thought to have been provided with new identity documents before fleeing the country. He has not been seen since and remains at large.
Det Supt Natalie Perischine of Merseyside Police said Walmsley was a “particularly dangerous individual” who had been able to organise his escape thanks to the availability of a mobile phone in prison.
Last week Merseyside police raided 11 properties, while staff at HMP Liverpool searched nine cells, seizing six mobile phones, in connection with the escape.
Ms Perischine said: “Shaun Walmsley is a cold-blooded murderer and a particularly dangerous individual. If you have assisted him in his escape from custody, or are providing him with the means to evade capture, we will come for you too.”
Thirty people, including a man from Liverpool who was on the run in Spain, have been arrested in the investigation into Walmsley’s escape. While there have been numerous alleged sightings in the UK, police believe he has left the country.
Ms Perischine said that while abroad he would need money. She added: “Someone is funding him and in time it could prove to be exceptionally costly. My question to the person or persons who are helping Walmsley by providing him with cash for accommodation and general living expenses is this: do you realise how much this will cost you in the long run and for what?”